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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-07-29, Page 1Did. you rise to the occasion? By, the time the Signal -Star is on the streets, Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles will finally be in wedded bliss. Today, everyone is a monarchist. How many of you turned on the television at five o'clock this morning to watch the elaborate wedding proceedings? Rumor has it that there were several pre -dawn champagne and oranges breakfasts in Goderich, many luncheons, and general celebrating. Whether or not you marked the event with a party, a Lady pi haircut, or by buying a wedding souvenir, the Signal -Star hopes you wish the future King and Queen of England happiness together. �.J ederich -1 133 YEAR -30. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1981 50 CENTS PER COPY ik team to start Goderich work Sept. BY JOANNE BUCHANAN A lot of work that wouldn't ordinarily get done in this town due to a lack of time, money and manpower, is going to get done over the next year thanks to the federal government's Katimavik program. The Katimavik program is a volunteer action program for young Canadians between the ages of 17 and 21 so that the may experience both working skills and alternative life styles. Katimavik has been in operation in this country for five years now but this is the first year that it has been undertaken in this part of Ontario. Paul Carroll of Seaforth and formerly of Goderich, made an application to the Katimavik program on behalf of the historical Van Egmond house in Seaforth this year and also mentioned Goderich. The Katimavik district manager then contacted Goderich Town Councillor Elsa Haydon; a meeting was held; and an application to Ottawa to bring the Katimavik Paint and roof tenders accepted BY JOANNE BUCHANAN Two tenders for town maintenance projects were accepted at a special meeting of town council held last Wednesday afternoon. A motion was passed to accept the tender of Greg Little in the amount of $2,420 to paint the police , building. Little was the lowest of three tenders received. The property committee had budgeted $2,500 for the painting project and the other two painting, tenders received were both higher than this amount. The ' other tender accepted was that of Exeter Roofing and Sheet Metal Company Limited in the amount. of $6,790 to repair the roof at the Public `Works Building. This was the only tender received for the project. In other business, a request from the Huron County Pioneer Museum to close Trafalgar . and Bruce Streets for the length of the museum grounds for the second annual Tiger Dunlop Days August 15 and,16, was referred to the Traffic Committee with power to act. Town applies for $820,000 from O.N.I.P. 'BY JOANNE BUCHANAN • An application applying for funds to carry out an • . $820,000 Ontario Neighbourhood Improvement Program (O.N.I.P.) in the west end of Goderich was, approved by town council at a special meetingheld last Wednesday afternoon. Town clerk Larry McCabe was asked to forward this application to the Ministry of Housing for the fiscal year 1981-82 and 1982-83. O.N.I.P. was only announced in March by Premier William Davis and Goderich is one of the first towns to make application to it. • It will' take in the area bounded on the north by lighthouse Street, on the south by Britannia Road, on the east by Wellington Street and on the west by Lake Huron. It will involve improvement to roads and streets in that area as well as soft serivices such as parks and recreation. The $820,000 cost for such improvements Will be shared equally, between the province and the municipality but Clerk McCabe points out that the municipality's share will be substantially reduced by other grants from the, senior levels of government. For example, Ministry of Transportation and Communications grants will be received for the road improvements and Ministry of Natural Resources grants will be received for the soft services and recreational improvements which mainly involve upgrading work' in the St. Christopher's beach area. "We're tanking only 25-35 per cent cost to the municipality for all the work done," explains McCabe. Goderich took advantage of the Neighbourhood Improvement Program (N.I.P.) for the north-east ' end of town in 1978 and the Community Services c Contribution Program (C.S.C.P.) for the south-east end oftown last year. The N.I.P. area was completed this year and '•the C.S.C.P. area is expected to be completed at the end of 1982. The O.N.I.P. area should be completed by 1984. The areas chosen for the various improvement programs are determined by criteria laid down by senior levels of government. This criteria includes housing stock, income, social and recreational facilities as well as the quality of roads and services .(such as sewers) in area. By following such criteria, the areas of town requiring improvements the most, are looked•after first. McCabe points out that one of the advantages of councillors and administrators attending out-of-town conferences and, conventions, is hearingabout programs like early so that applications can be made promptly with a better chance of acceptance on the first come, first serve basis. 1 program to bot Goderich and Seaforth was sup- ported. In order to become sponsors in the Katimavik program, the commmwnities of Goderich and Seaforth had to come up with enough work for 33 people for nine months. In Goderich this work will include restoration at the Huron Historic Jail, the Huron County Pioneer Museum and the marine museum; repairs to the stairs at Tiger Dunlop's tomb; the building of new stairs in the St. Christopher's Beach area; and the updating of certain• records at town hall and the Maitland Cemetery. In Seaforth it will in- clude fixing the banks along the stream in Lions Club park; restoration work at Van Egmond house and general maintenance at the public school. Both communities have several back-up jobs so that Katimavik participants are sure not to run out of work. It is important to emphasize that the Katimavik participants are not taking work away from other people. They are doing only those jobs that would not otherwise get done. The Secretary of State pays them $1 per day plus $1,000 if they stay until the end of project. Their food and housing is also paid for. There will be two groups of 11 Katimavik par- ticipants working in Goderich starting September 21 and one group of 11 working in Seaforth. These groups will rotate every three months with other Katimavik groups from across the country. There are a total of 37 different Katimavik projects in Canada with seven of them being in Ontario. Each one has three group leaders plus a co-ordinator. Only the three group leaders remain in. the same community at the same project for a full year. The three group leaders for the Goderich-Seaforth project were in Goderich last week. They stayed at the. Bedford Hotel along with their co-ordinator, Charlene Sheard of Toronto, and looked for houses and vans which will be required by the Katimavik group. They also tried to meet as many people as they could and acquainted themselves with the area. The leaders are Louise Carter of Ottawa, Heather Edgar of Renfrew and Larry McKnight of Prince Edward Island. Louise is bilingual and is serving her secondyear as a leader. The leaders were successful in renting a house in Seaforth for the Katimavik groups which will be working there but they still need to renttwo houses in Goderich as well as two or possibly three 12 -seater vans for transportation to and from work and for exploring the a rea The Katimavik participants also need used fur- niture and.'dishes and are interested in learning any crafts skills from local people. Besides being between the ages of 17 and 21, Katimavik participants must be medically fit, open minded about learning of different life-styles and possibly a different language and willing to do • without luxuries such as televisions,'stereos and cars. They must also follow certain rules and codes of conduct such as no•hitch-hiking, no drinking under- age, no using illegal drugs and keeping up a fairshare of the work, both in the community and in the home in , which they liver , During their three months on each project, they must live and work alongside a family in the com- munity for two weeks also. They are willing to help . senior citizens cut lawns, shovel driveways and run errands as well. The three Gode ich-Seaforth group leaders have now moved into Ma4?le Leaf Cabins in Goderich. They will take a 10 -day training session in Montreal from August 11-20. Participants arrive September 9 and . also take a 10 -day training session before beginning work on.September21. • • Turn to page 3 • Cheques'can be picked up Thurs . . The Ministry of Community and Social Service cheques for Mother's Allowance and Disability payments will be available `to Goderich and Clutton area residents after 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 30. Residents in Goderich and Clinton, as well as the rural ratite areas of these towns can come to the ' Clinton Municipal Offices (town hall) to pick up their • cheques until 4 p.rn. - People in Auburn and Dungannon areas will have their benef its delivered as usual to the post office, and these -cheques willprobably be available before. Thursday. , The Huron County Social Services branch (County Welfare Department) will 'have 'benefit cheques by 'Aug. 1 for anyone serviced by the Goderich Post Office. Note that these. cheques can be picked up at the department's Court House Office on Friday from ' 2 to 4:30 p.m. Those Clinton and area residents_ served by the Clint* Post Office can pick up their cheques at the Clinton. Towtt.Hall on.Fnday between 10:30 a.m: and • • noon.. ' Residents protest go-kart races , Approximately 50 Port Albert and area residents, many of them cottagers,. attended a special meeting of Ashfield Township Council on Tuesday, July 21 to protest a request by Can -Dart Ltd. of Rexdale to hold • go-kart races on the former Port Albert airport property over a 15 -year period. . A representative of Can -Kart first attended the July 7 meeting 'of council with this request but no action was taken at that time.' Residents are objecting mainly to noise and traffic congestion which they fear would be caused by such races. A public meeting is planned for August 4 at 6:30 p.m. ,in Ashfield Township Hall. At this time, a respresentative• from Can -Kart. Ltd. will have an opportunity to present plans on how the company intends to use the old airport property which it must lease. Those people opposingthe plans will have an opportunity to ask questions at this time also. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR, The Festival of the Arts in Courthouse Park on the weekend attracted many talented artists and crafts people as well as customers and those who were `lust looking'. Above Tett, eight-year-old Chris Geddes proves to be a shy cowboy, an original apple doll by Wendy Cunningham epitomizes what the festival is all about, and below, Kevin Dunlop of Kitchener tells a couple about his marquetry craft. (Photos by Cath Wooden) Figures show building slump BY JASON AINSLIE , In the past year, the economy has drawn many purse strings tighter on necessary items as well as on those things we consider luxuries. For mankind, who considers his shelter to be of highest priority, the telltale signs of his ailing economy can be seen in the present building slump, and the building inspector's ,office in Goderich shows the same trends. Some ready figures: in the past year, interest rates have climbed from about 121 per cent to 21 per cent; mortgages, which hovered about the 13 per cent mark, are now at 191/2 per cent; and the American dollar, purchased a year ago for about $1.17, today costs $1.23. And this -is all mirrored in the present building trends. Reports from the building inspector's office sh15w that, while there is a decrease in the construction of major projects, -there has been an increase in smaller, handyman -type projects. For example, no duplexes or semi-detached rowhouses have been built since 1978 when permits for 16 units were issued. But there has been a sharp rise in the building of carports and, garages: com- pared to,the 10 building permits issued in all of 1980 for these shelters, there have been 11 such permits issued in the firstsix'months of 1981. But the new garages and carports, are no more elaborate than the old. In fact, the construction cost of the average auto shelter last year was $2,850 whereas the 1981 average is down to $2,190 per structure. Other residential repairs are on the upswing as well. Minor projects such as sundecks or stairs, etc., numbered 20 in the' first six months of 1980 but numbered 34 in the same time frame in 1981. The values of these residential improvements have remained fa irly stable over the two years. Of particular instability over lone past few years is the swimming pool. In 1979, permits were issued for the construction of 10 pools. In the first half of this year, however I it is reasonable to assume that most swimming pools would be a project of the spring or early summer ), only two permits were issued. Are, pools becoming less popular, or are they becoming too much of a luxury' item for many households' Probably the latter; although they cost of 1981's average pool is $4,500 - about $600 less than the 1979 averages and nearly $2.500 less than the average pool constructed in 1980. It is a safe indication that money isetight when luxuries are hacked. to barebones proportions. These are conditions with which Canadians must live, however, as economists are predicting interest rates to climb as high AS 25 per cent by the end of the summer. Repair now, homeowners. For the clouds are still on the horizon. Pee Wees show stuff The Goderich Legion Pee Wees. hosted its annual district tournament this yearend Lost a heartbreaking game 11-10 to Kincardine, - who won the championship for the second straight year. See page 1A for Cath Wooden's. photo feature. There were two other tour- naments on the weekend, the ladies fastball tourney in Auburn and the men's slowpitch tourney in Port Albert. Hagarty hits the road Jim Hagarty, former editor of Signal -Star Publishing newspaper the Mitchell Advocate. has embarked on a career as a singer songwriter and has released his first album, called Ain't It Funny. Read Joanne\ Buchanan's feature on Jim on page IA. azanewnomuniamourarm Holiday Monday This year's Civic Holiday falls on Monday. August 3. Banks. government offices, most businesses .i and of course, the post office) will be closed Monday. Signal, Star advertising and news copy deadlines will remain as usual. riumaliteassasconcasintic