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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-04-01, Page 1oaench eirk2NIAL. 132 YEAR, -13 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1981 50 CENTS PER COPY More than $75,000 in stolen property was recovered more than 50 breakius over the past three months and by several ,teams of OPP Investigators -in recovered after a lengthy investigation. Four simultaneous raids Thursday. The loot was taken at • 4.....- Lucknow area men have been char remain in custody. (Photo by Dave Sy _r ael es) aifd three Puffers get their way in council chamber BY HENRY HESS • --Reeves and deputy reeves attending Huron County Council will continue to be allowed -to puff on •cigaret- tes, cigars and pipes during their deliberations.. In a determined effort to clear the air in the council chambers, the executive committee introduced a recommendation that smoking be banned there as of April 1., However,. the recommendation was voted down 17 to 11. The proposal sparked one of the most impassioned debates during last week's meeting of the county council. • The smokers were championed by Cal Krauter, the cigarette -puffing reeve of Brussels, who declared it's up to him and nobody else to decide whether he „smokes and where. If the majority outlaws smoking . in the council chambers, it will have to be prepared to hold council meetings in the:men's room, because that's where all the smokers will be clustered, he warned. He also said you 'can educate people not to smoke but/you can't legislate it, pointing ' out it didn't work with liquor during Prohibition. "If you don't want smokers in here, then you go to all the townships at election time and have them elect non-smokers." He was backed by Reeve Bill Dale of Seaforth, a pipe smoker, who said,he intends to keepon smoking regardless of where he is. "If you donwant me to smoke in here, I will leave the chamber." - On the other side of the coin, Reeve Paul Steckle of Stanley.Township pointed out nobody's saying a per- son can't smoke, "only that within these four walls we don't want you smoking". Some members have asked to have their seats changed because they are bothered by smoke, .he ex- plained. "I don't feel we are infringing on your rights to ask INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR you to smoke outside,but you're definitely infringing on our rights by smoking, in here." Tom Cunningham;. reeve of Hullett Township, con- fessed he was "one of the culprits who started this". He has bronchitis and asthma, he, exlilained and has spent . very.. uncomfortable evenings following ses- sions sandwiched between.twd smokers. - - Morris Reeve Bill Elson suggested a compromise, proposing that smokers can be seated -in one corner of . the room and non-smokers in another. He used to smoke and"knows how it feels to be deprived of a smoke he said. Grant Stirling, reeve of Goderich. Township had the last word. "I sat on county council when cigars were 10 cents apiece, and these people here today don't know anything about smoke!" he declared. Star features special sections this week This week the Signal -Star is pleased to offer two supplementary editions in this week's paper for your reading enjoyment. Stories and pictures of the final day of the Lions Young Canada Week peewee hockey tournament are contained in a two-page insert in the paper. The insert offers complete coverage of the B and C cham- pionship and consolation round games. Also the Signal has prepared its annual cancer edition, HOPE. The tabloid offers background in- formation on cancer, cancer therapy, precautions and facts about the dreaded disease. There are also features about the local chapter of the Cancer Society and fund-raising events planned for the Goderich area. $75,000 in stolen property recovered - Provincial police recovered -an estimated $75,000 in' stolen property after simdltaneous raids on three Lucknow area homes Thursday. Police have charged four. men in connection with the recovered 'goods that included hundreds of power and hand tools, clothing, groceries, canned goods, two snowmobiles, an assortment of tractor and car • tires, chain saws, firearms and assortment of road s. . e recovered goods were taken in breakins'at more .than 50 homes, businesses and cottages in the „past three months. Police said the breakins covered a wide area including Goderich, Wingham, Listowel, Lucknow and. Ashfield.Township.. _ . The investigation was conducted by No. 6 District °of the OPP with teams from the Goderich, :Exeter; Wingham, Mount Forest, Kitchener, Kincardine and Listowel detachments. Police said the four men are charged with several counts of brealand enter and theft,possession of stolen property and three of the men also face drug charges. Charged are three 19 year-olds and a 23 year-old. All are from the Lucknow area. A police spokesman said that further arrests are anticipated. ' Police now face the agonizing task ofcataloguing the property and hope much it can be redeemed by owners: • County spending up to $10.7 million in 1981 BY HENRY HESS Huron County Council last week voted approval of a . 1981 budget calling for spending of $10.7 million. This is up by 7:5 percent over the 1980 budget, ' though_it is some $36,000 under actual spending last year,' when the county overshot its budget by more than:half a million dollars. Road construction and the new Auburn garage accounted for the overspending. As a result, the county portion of the budget to be collected, from Huron. municipalities has shot up by, more than 21 percent this year. The 1981 county a portionment is $2,748,100, up from $2,264,500 in 1980. Bill Hanly, county clerk -treasurer and ad- tq,{,Aelained the large incregse u1.,;aitior tionmen .can be traced directly to overspending. Whereas the county started last year with a $253,538 surplus, it finished with a deficit of. $504,150. • In addition $305,000 from highway reserves was used to reduce the apportionment last year and so is not available in 1981. , The remainder of revenue in the budget, will come from Ontario grants of $6.4 million, fees and service charges of $1.7 million, other revenue of $253,069 and municipal grants and fees of $90,300. Mr. Haply pointed out to council that over the past seven years the province has been picking up an ever - larger share of the county budget. In 1975 provincial grants accounted for $3.3 million of a $6.7 million budget, while this year they represent $6.4 million of a $10:7 million dollar budget. The road committee,' which had been instructed to review its proposed budget with an eye to trimming some $200,000 brought back a revised budget to coune c Llo d Moussea�i, conuflittge re *q d e 'die pavitig`or i•,diu >t Tie k resurfacing of County. Road 20 to two inches of asphalt from three inches . and various . other economies. the committee had managed to trim $177,000 from its budget. "This is about as far as we can go with our budget • Turn to page 20 Fivepeople injured irk accidents Five people were hurt in two separate:accidents in the area on the weekend. Four people were taken to hospital Friday following a two -car collis►.ain.on Highway 21 at the Holmesville turnoff.• ' A vehicle driven by :Claire Chambers; Gibbons Street Goderich was travelling west on Highway 21 when it was struck by an eastbound vehicle driven by Anthony Schneyderberg of Stratford. Chambers and a. passenger in her ear, Shirley Gilbert of Goderich, were taken to hospital and treated for injuries. Schneyderberg and his wife, Sophie were also taken to hospital. Damage to the Schneyderberg vehicle was estimated at $4,000 and • $1,000 to the Chambers vehicle. An Ashfield Township man remains in critical con- dition in University Hospital; London, following a motorcycle accident . on Sideroad 1, Ashfield .Township Stoiday. Goderich OPP reported that Maurice Miltenburg, 20, -of R. -R. 7 Lueknow, lost control of his motorcycle on Sideroad 1 in Ashfield Township and flipped over. Cable satellite programming will cease YCW coverage The Goderich Lions Club has wrapped •up Young Canada Week for another year with some winners and losers, and lots of hockey fun. See the final Daily News edition inserted in this week's Signal. ' GLT wants help Goderich Little Theatre's final production of the season is underway. Another professional director has been hired to see a comedy farce, 'How the Other Half Loves', to the stage. See page 1A. Regular Features Tid Bits Pg. 2 Sports Pg. 1 1 Births Pg. 2 Real Estate Pg. 17 Editorial Pg. 4 Classifieds Pg. 15 Columns Pg. 4 GLT Pg. 1A Obits Pg. 5 Farm new Pq._8A Church Pg. 7 Birthday Club .. Pg. 6A Don Stinson of Bluewater Cable hopes that laws governing the distribution of satellite signals will be eased so local viewers can take advantage of satellite programming. The company has been offering satellite . programming, a ,prnetice that is unauthorized by theCRTC. ( Photo by Dave Sykes) BY DAVE SYKES For cable television viewers,who • have been. feasting sumptuously on satellite programming in the area served by Bluewater Cable, the feast may soon be over. While Bluewater Cable has been offering sample programming from satellite stations, that practice IS - a direct contravention of federal regulations and will cease. Don Stinson, manager of the cable company,. said the experiment was 'simply "to show people what's available in television programming and has been available for over three years." But the Canadian Radio and Television Com- mission and the federal government do not permit the distribution of satellite signals. Satellites hover over the equator and pick up television signals, tran- smitting them back in a wide beam. across Canada and the United States. The signals are everywhere but the CRTC has maintained a firm stand against their distribution. Satellite television services have been kept out of Canadian homes mainly to diminish the competition among broadcasters and networks in Canada. If such programming were available, audiences viewing Canadian stations could diminish substantially. • Although federal regulations prohibit the distribution of satellite service, Stinson said many cable operators- are offering the service to sub- scribers to show them what they are missing. Cable companies cannot charge subscribers for the extra service but many are going against the federal regulations so Canadians will clamor for -the satellite service. • Over -the past month. Bluewater subscribers have been treated to satellite programming from 1.'w York, Atlanta and Chicago. "In 1978 we applied to the ('RTC for satellite programming and they just listened politely," Stinson said. "There, is no agreefnent between Canada and the United States on satellites and the federal regulations just aren't keeping up." So it is technically illegal for cable companies to give subscribers a taste of satellite programming. Rritth•e- operators arta horrin•g-the viewer will like the programming enough to pressure the government into casing regulations. • "We are not the only ones doing it. It's Canada wide and operators in every province are showing satellite programming," Stinson said. "The media has labelled us as pirates." - The CRTC has maintained •the philosophy that distribution of the signals is unauthorized rather than illegal and have laid charges against some operators. But the federal government has in turn been taken to court in a fight over jurisdiction of the satellite signals. Satellite signals have been around for years and Canada has even been a leader in this respect. But Stinson says•it will take pressure from the consumer before the government ease regulations on the distribution of signals. "The people haven't told the government what they want so the government hasn't acted," he said. "We started satellite programming on channel 9 a month ago and have had lots of calls since that time. It was probably the first time in this business that most of the calls were complimentary. Usually they just call to complain about reception." The public reception of the new programming has been encouraging. "The government is trying to keep the service out of Canada and they're hurting the consumer," he said. The Atlanta station we aired offered a good alternative to network programming and was good family viewing." • The cost of satellite signals, Stinson explained, would be tacked on to subscribers basic rates and could be as little as 10 cents per month per station. Cable operators are not -paying the supplier stations for the service now because there is no agreement between the countries. Many homeowners are• tap- ping into.the saltellite signals by installing their own receiving dishers. Costs are slowly coming down and dishes can be bought for $8,000. A Canadian can legally own what Stinson referred to as an earth station but is against regulations to operate it. In an effort to bring the situation to some sort of productive solution, Bluewater Cable is asking subscribers to write to Francis Pox, Minister of ('ommnunicatiorirt. in suippoft Of satellite program- ming. .10 4