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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-01-14, Page 1t. o i:?fl.T: 1.3; ett RAY, JANUARY14.111111, 5o CENTS PER COPY Permits down in 1980 but dollar value up Despite a decrease in the number of building permits issued in Goderich during 1983 the total dollar value of the construction surpassed 1929 A report hem building inspector Dung Hanison indicates the number of building penults dropped by more than 25 per cent in 1969 to 131 permit compared to 165 issued in 1979. However, the value of the 165 t permits in 1979 was =3,050,032 but the 1960 totalvalue was $3,083,267, an increase ofover x,000. Harrison said that although the perp are down Turn to page Z L Assets of Dearborn Steel company tendered The assets' of Dearborn Steel Tubing Manufac- luring Company of Goderich have been tendered in the hopes of selling the automotive exhaust maeuLacturing company.... The company went into receivership early in December .and with two ree?ivers acting as, managers and agents for . lending institutions. Leventhal and Horwath Chartered Accountants of Toronto are acting that behalf of the a Canada Per- manent e -manent Mortgage and Trust Company, holder of the first mortgage on the land, buildings and equipment ° Peat -Marwick is acting as manager for the Bank of Montreal interests. hick Quian;ey of Peat Marwick said that ap- proximately 30 tender packages have been mailed out to prospective purchasers and the tenders will be reviewed by the receivers Friday. "We'll, just, see ate, develops and notify the sa. cessful tenderer in a week," he said. In December Quinney intimated there was some genuine interest expressed in the company and Monday he said several people have home to Goderich to view the operation and facilities of Dearborn. sonnel to handle a few orders that are being shipped as well as accounting and administration duties. "Most of the employees are laid off . now but we b)pv it is justtemporary," Qamney said "We have laid off about 50 employees and seven have remained on staff. Employees in the main plant were given layoff . notice just. before Christmas.. while. the welding division received notification Friday_ Dearborn was started in April 19558. by the late Ralph Hotton and the late Keith Hopkinson and the company initially employed six men at the Newgate Street Plant In 1976 Dearborn was sold to Bob Brown andJohn Funk. In 1972 the company expanded with the con- struction of a 20,000 square foot plant an 7 aq es in the Industrial Park. Snow banks create havoc at intersections With a substantial snowfall this winter banks are piling up along roadsides and creating dangerous situations et many intersections in town_ ,Members of town council expressed concern that high banks at intersections make it impossible for drivers to view oncoming traffic. Drivers must pull out into the intersection before the entire roadway'is , visible. Councillor John Doherty said he realized the road crew was under a considerable work load recently ,but asked Commissioner of Works, ken Hunter, if snow could be removed from corners. "I know the crew is busy and working a lot of overtime," he said. "Would it be possible to push the snow back from the corners because the intersections are dangerous." Hunter explained that the snow removal crew was working 16 hours a day in many cases to keep roads clear and were now just finding the tion ffor bank removal. He added that this week many sidewalks in town were being cleared for the first time this winter. Deputy -reeve Bob Allen said it was difficult to remove from street corners because of light posts but said the town crew was doinga fine job this winter. "The PUC has put light posts on most corners and the banks can only be removed with a front end loader," he said. "The men are..going_26-•bout's a.day now but we could hire more trucks if it was necessary. But we're doing well."` Hunter told council that the severity of the winter would not have a great effect on the snow -removal budget. Due,tomild conditions during the first three Months of 1980 verylittle wasspent on smite removal and Hunter expects the costs to be under budget for • 1980. b y When setting the 1981 budgets in March or snow removal, casts for the first three months already be fixed and Hunter said it was not difficult to retrain within budget. "It is easy to budget because half of the year will already be. over," he said. "The snow removal is actually a small part of the budget it's the overtime that -is eatea?' In December there were 243 overtime hours for snowplowing, sanding, and salting and "11 of those hours were for work on oumiei4ingIiiili Town in darkness for five hours Tuesday Where were you when the lights went out? Most homes and businesses in Goderich were without electricity for five hours Tuesday as two malfunctions cut the • flow of power through town lines. Public Utilities Commission foreman Evert Middel explained that two separate, malfunctions contributed to the los., of power. "There was a malfunction in the reclosure of the Eldon Street substation that tripped everything off," he said. "But there was also a line breakdown in the Albert -Brock Street arra. " PUC crews had to dismantle a unit et the new Eldon Street stationand power was restored by 2.30 p.m. Most homes in town were without electricity and heat and merchants tried to conduct business as - usual i the Square although some stores were forced to close. , The power outage forced the use of an emergency generating system at Alexandra Marine and General 'Hospital but the lack of power was not a'ggreat in - Shawn Thomson of Goderich is a bright, active four-year-old with cerebral palsy,. At age three he used to ask his mother -Freida: 'Why won't these stupid legs work?' Now with the aid of his walker and daily exercise, he is becoming stronger and .it is hoped that some day he will walk on his own. He has already been ice skating with his walker this winter. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) Help disabled to bright future BY JOANNE BUCHANAN Shawn Thomson of Goderich is a bright, active four-year-old with big eyes and an engaging smile. He is curious about everything and has an intense desire to succeed at whatever he does. The moredifficult the task, the more determined Shawn becomes. Shawn has cerebral patsy which affects his speech and movement. At present, a simple task such as standing is impossible for him without some kind of aid But there is hope that some day he will be a ble to walk. And two months of speech therapy at the Ontario Society ' for Crippled Children in Toronto beginning February 16 will help prepare him for his first year at St. Mary's Separate School this September. Already at his tender young age, Shawn has become resigned to daily exercise and therapy as a way of life. And with his determination to succeed, there is a lot of hope for his future. What Shawn and other disabled persons like him need now is more ,public awareness and acceptance. Perhaps this will be achieved to some degree in 1981, the year the United Nations has proclairned.as the International Year for Disabled Persons. Shawn and others like him alio need the generous financial donations of the public for research, treatment and special facilities like Participation Houses, which are residences for severely disabled young adults. This weekend, area residents will have a chance to contribute to the North American telethon, Weekend With TheStars. Locally it will be broadcast over CKNX-TV in Wingham and four lines will be manned at Canadian Tire by the Godericll Kinettes, under the co-ordination of Karen Fry and Dianne Al mstrong,. from 7 p.m. Saturday to 6 pan. Sunday. The number to call is 524-2121. Money donated from this arta will stay in the area to help disabled persons like Shawn. JUST A WORD Shawn's cerebral palsy happened at birth but was not diagnosed until he was one year old. He. spent the first six weeks of his life at Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. He 'was a tense, noisybaby and very hard to handle. "All he could do for a whole year was cry, day and night and we did our -share of crying too," admit Shawn's parents, Stewart and Freida. For a year, the Thomsons prepared them- selves to hear exactly what was wrong with their baby but it still came as a shock to them when they heard it was cerebral palsy. "Cerebral palsy didn't„rmean anything. It was just a big, long word," says Freida. After much research they discovered that cerebral palsy was a general term covering non- progressive damage to a developing brain. The brain ,starts to develop half way through pregnancy and continues to develop until the end of the third year of life. Damage to the brain in this period results in poor control of the muscles of the limbs and the trunk and may also interfere with intelligence and proper use of one or more of the senses (sight, taste, hearing, touch and smell). Shawn's particular cerebral palsy is' athetoid which makes co-ordinated movement extremely difficult. After being diagnosed in August of 1977, Shawn started therapy'at the Thames Valley Children's Centre in London once a week for three years. At the Centre, Freida learned how to do different therapies with'him at home. The therapies break down into three areas: speech, physio and oc- cupational. "Everything, you do with him works into these three area's," explains Freida. "His basic problems novo are walking and speech. Henan walk with aids but he has no balance, on his own. He can kneel and stay and eventually they feel he will walk on his own." An hour a day with a speech therapist this summer. helped Shawn considerably. At age two, Shawn was making 'very few sounds and his parents had almost accepted the fact that he would be non-verbal. But he has proven them wrong: Shawn's physiotherapy involves basic Stan- 1urn to page 20. convenience according to administrator, Elmer Taylor. "The emergency power has some limitations but it keeps things going," he said. "It will work in- definitely but we don't like to be on it that long. Taylor added that the power outage is a good op- portunity to assess the emergency system and its " Iimitations. "It puts a strain on x-ray but it's a good chance to assess the situation and try to improve," he said. Many employees had to put in a day's. work in winter coats but were thawed out by quitting tine_ Boardapproves anendment BY CATH WOODEN Goderich Planning Board approveda zoning amendment at its January 6 meeting to allow for the construction of a .new building which will house a - health spa, a convenience store, and a doughnut shop on the west side of Bayfield Road at Suncoast Drive. Peter Bettger appeared before the board for owner of the land, Norm McGoran in Trust, to request the zoning change to highway commercial. Senior planner. Roman Dzus told board members that the . parcel of land concerned is the only Turn to page2o. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR, Tired Gagers Boys will be boys. Combine a bunch of them and a big discovered in the schoolyard of Victoria Public mound of snow and you have the elements for some School on Friday. ( Photo by Cath Wooden) spectacular giing warfare as these youngsters - _4� The GDCI junior Vikings have been busy, playing five games Friday and Saturday. The team beat Seaforth in regular league play and reached the con- solation finals of the annual Blue and White Tournament Saturday. See the sports pages. Awareness Day To kick off the Goderich March of Dimes campaign, there will be an Awareness Day at . the Suncoast Mall January 30. The three chapters of the Beta Sigma Phi. sorority are directing the campaign. See community news on page 19. Sailors win 12-8 The Goderich Sailors are improving their record with a 12.8 win over Mt. Forest Friday night. The game saw only eight penalty minutes and three goals by both Tim McLean and Steve Meriam. See the sports pages. Regular Features � Tid Bits P \2 Real Estate .. Pg. 18-1 , Obits .... v.... , Pg. 3 B. Board Pg. 11 Editorials • ' Pg. 4 T.V. Pg. 10 Columns Pg. 4 ('hurch Pg. 5 Sports Pg. 14-16 Farm Pg.5 ('1assified..:. P. 1.7.18 ('. Comet ° Pg. 1.0 there thee ;••••••.#.241, ot-