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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-10-26, Page 1handles police calls for five municipal police forces. Five dispat- chers, including Phyllis Hoggart, pictured above answering a call, provide 24-hour service to the forces of Goderich, Clinton, Exeter, Seaforth and Wingham. ( photo by Dave Sykes) reserve fund and this summer, in co- operation with the provincial govern- ment's BILD program, the new terminal was constructed. Thje 1,600 square -foot terminal was constructed by Wayne Stahl Contractors Ltd. of Kitchener at a cost of $150,000. Eighty per cent of the cost of the terminal is covered by MTC grants while the town is responsible for the remaining 20 per cent. The main floor of the two-storey structure houses the main public waiting area, a reception area, manager's office, lease office, washroom, vending kitchen and janitor's room. Western Air Services occupies a alarge portion of the lower floor which also contains a large mechanical room and two storage rooms. The members of the airport committee include; Dick Wright, Eileen Palmer, Jim Britnell, Don Wheeler, Bill Vanstone, John Rodges, Lionel Wilder, Grant Stirling, Leonard Bannerman, Bill Finnie and Ken Hunter. Ed Scruton is the manager of the facility. The town of Goderich assumed ownership and full operation of the former flying school facility in 1974. Since then, many important changes have taken place, the most notable being the com- pletion of a master plan for development approved by the Department of Tran- sportation and Communication. Since that time the field and paved runways have been improved, lighting has been installed, fuel -handling capabilities were increased, the maintenance garage was built and a rotating beacon was supplied. 135 YEAR -42 erich SIGNAL— STAR GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 198.3 50 CENTS PER COPY- Town OPY Town wants calls on dispatch system A pilot project to have Goderich and area fire calls answered through the Huron Municipal Police Communications System is being held in abeyance pending further input from each of the county's four other town councils by November 15. Meanwhile, the technical aspects of the project are being investigated fully. At a special meeting of the Goderich Police Commission held Wednesday, October 19, representatives of each of the five towns using the communications system were present. Goderich Police Commission Chairman Alvin McGee started the meeting by explaining that while the Goderich Police Commission technically has the governing authority over the communications system which is housed at the Goderich police station, the other four towns also have a voice in running the system and their input is always considered. After appointing Goderich Town Clerk, Larry McCabe as a neutral chairman for the meeting, Goderich Police Chief Pat King gave a statistical presentation based on a 42 - day survey of the number of calls handled by the police communications system. He noted that the average number off police calls handled was just under 24 per hour and that the handling of all fire calls for the five towns would add slightly over three seconds per hour to the workload of the dispatchers. Chief King also noted that out of 87 police calls in the busiest 16 hour period (Friday and Saturday evening from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. i, there were only nine occassions when more than one telephone rang at once. He said that the backing up of telephones would not be new to the system if it took on fire calls because it was just an inevitable situation. Chief King read a letter from Mike McInerney, Manager of the Ontario Police Commission, Technical Services Branch, who said from information received, it was his opinion that the present system would have no problem facilitating all the fire calls in the county. He said even if the fire calls (Ambled their present numbers, they would not present much of an added workload. McInerney said the dispatchers of the Huron system were not unduly overworked and that the system was not being used to its full capacity at present. While he admitted that the backing -up of calls could occur, he said good judgement by the dispatchers would prevent any major problems: "Coincidence of a serious crime and a fire call coming in at the precise same moment could happen but the odds are great. Training can prevent any major problems." Chief King said he had checked with several other police departments with similar communications systems and all replies he had received indicated that fire calls could be handled under the system with no problem. in his own opinion, he said he also felt there was greater safety for the general public if professionally trained dispatchers handled the fire calls rather than the members of the firemen's families who do it now. "In my opinion. we have a good system and the handling of fire calls won't milk it down," he concluded. At this point, Chairman McCabe called for comments from representatives of the towns present at the meeting. Wingham Police Chief Bob Wittig said it was his opinion that the system is very capable of receiving and dispatching not only Goderich fire calls but all the fire calls in the county. He said an ad-hoc committee should be formed to see how this could best be implemented. While Wingham would like to maintain its pr.sent system of answering tire calls, ne said his council would like to have the option of using the police com- munications system available to them in the future. Seaforth Police Chief Hal Claus said he would make the recommendation that if the fire call system is implemented, then the fire phone should have a separate line from the police phones. He indicated that Seaforth Town Council would like to see proposals of cost sharing and said that the fire department was quite satisfied with its present arrangement of receiving calls and would not be interested in joining the new system at this time. Police Chief Ted Day of Exeter said he was in agreement with the Town of Wingham's view but was concerned with costs. Exeter Police Committee member Dorothy Chapman questioned the accuracy of Chief King's statistical report on the system and said there were too many unanswered questions to give a yes or no answer to the Goderich proposal. Clinton Mayor Ches Archibald said that while the Town of Clinton was not opposed to the proposal, it presently has an entirely satisfactory fire call system. Mr. Archibald said his town would like the option to join the police communications system at a future time and wanted a proposal of a cost break- down. Chairman McCabe said he did not an- ticipate increased staffing for the system once fire calls were added to it and that if any increases did occurr, costs would be shared on a per capita formula. He pointed out that many ongoing costs such as office space, heat, electricity, administration, etc. were now absorbed by the Town of Goderich to the benefit of the other towns on the system. McCabe stated his view that the present system had the capability to handle fire calls and was designed for this in the first place. He said the addition of fire calls would mean a more efficient use of the system and co-ordination of emergency services. At this point, the Goderich Police Com- mission members left the meeting for five minutes to discuss a proposal to present to the other towns and came back with the following motion: "That the Goderich and area fire calls be answered through the Police Communications System as a pilot project and that the other participating municipalities be credited proportionately based on an annual payment of $2,000 by the Fire Department to the Communications Systems; and that the technical aspects be investigated fully prior to implementation and the pilot project be reviewed at the end of one year as to costs, etc. and the desire of other municipalities enteringinto the system." it was indicated that prior to any im- plementation by the Town of Goderich, input was again requested from representatives of the various towns. The representatives from Clinton, Seaforth and Wingham said they could see no problems with the pilot project but would like to have a copy of the meeting's minutes to take to their respec- tive councils for consideration. The Exeter representative was more concerned with the distribution of apportionment and requested a copy of the minutes for council and in- formation on the calculation of the payment indicated in the motion. Replies from each of the town councils should be received on or before November 15 and in the interim, Chief King will in- vestigate the technical aspects of im- plementing the new fire phone system as soon as possible following the November 15 deadline. TO Fire calls may be handled on a one-year trial basis The board of Police Commissioners for the town of Goderich hopes to initiate a pilot project which will ee all Goderich fire calls routed through the central dispatesystem. Currently, the dispatch system, located in the Polic Station on West Street, Minister James Snow will open new airport terminal • Committee plans full day of activities to mark terminal opening at airport The Goderich Municipal Airport has become an integral and vital component of the autonomy of Goderich and area and improvements in recent years has added substantially to the facility's capabilities On Tuesday, November 1, the Goderich Municipal Airport Committee will proudly unveil its new Sky Harbour terminal building at the airport, constructed in co- operation with the provincial govern- ment's Board of Industrial Leadership and Development Bili) program. The Honorable .James Snow. Minister of Transportation and Communication, will fly in at 9 a.m. Tuesday and participate in the official opening ceremonies at 9 30 a.m. before heading hack to Toronto The town and its committee have laid out ambitious plans for the official opening and open house. While the opening of the terminal building will take place at 9.30 a.m. to accomodate the minister's schedule, the terminal and all ancillary buildings will he open to the public until 8 p.m. During the day, the Experimental Aircraft Association will sponsor static displays, the Sky Harbour Modellers will display their aircraft and there will be a special pictorial review. detailing the rebuilding and restoration of the Lan- caster. The former landmark and historic site, the Lancaster was restored by the War Planes Heritage Foundation of Mount Hope. The Foundation is expected to par- ticipate in the opening by sending two classic war planes- a Mustang P51 fighter and a Mitchell B25 bomber -sometime during the day. As well, two military Kiowa helicopters are expected to arrive from Downsview at approximately 1.30 p m. Western Air Services will offer plane rides during the open house and the Business Air Services Mitsubishi Diamond .let will be nn display. The availability of aircraft, the committee has cautioned, is subject to weather conditions that day and plans are subject to change. in 1982, the town and MTC combined to build a three -bay maintenance garage at the airport. constructed by Shalmar Structures of Gads Hill, the MTC paid 70 per cent of the $130,000 cost of the main- tenance building. The need for a new terminal building at the airport has long been a necessity and a The new terminal building at the Goderich Municipal Airport officially opens Tuesday and pert of the many displays featured will be a pictorial essay on the restoration of the Lan- caster. The file photo above shows members of the Goderlch Legion Branch 109 in front of the Lane. The Legion was instrumental in purchasing the plane and putting it one display near the airport. dream for the airport committee. While terminal facilities were sadly lacking, the committee bided its time until the proper funding formula was available. The existing terminal was built as a temporary machine shop during World War ii when Sky Harbour was an air force training school. For present applications, the building had outlived its purpose. The airport committee established a Turn clocks back Saturday The mornings are cold and grey now and the trees are slowly losing their brilliantly coloured leaves. There is a certain celestial or refined quality about the autumn season but while its crisp, dear days are lustily consumed, they serve as aremnder that the blustery days of winter appro eh. The hours of daylight are steadily diminishing as the final days of autumn approach and this weekend signals the end of Daylight Savings Time. Signal -Star readers are dutifully reminded to turn their clocks back one hour this weekend, officially at 2 a.m. Sunday,as we return to Standard Time for the next six months: Those autumnal mornings won't seem as cold and grey for the next few months but darkness will come by 5 p.m. Remember to turn your clock back one hour. Woman dies after receiving severe burns Mrs. Vere D. (Ethel Mary) Cunningham, 84, of R.R. 5 Goderich died in Victoria Hospital, London on Wednesday, October 19 after receiving third degree burns from an accident which took place in her home Sunday, October9. Mrs. Cunningham was cooking on an electric stove when her clothing caught fire from one of the elements. She was taken to Alexandra Marine and General Hospital and later transferred to London where she died of heart failure from a skin grafting operation. A funeral service for Mrs. Cunningham was held at Stiles Funeral Home in Goderich and a complete obituary will appear in next week's paper. Extra constables on Halloween As well as children out having fun trick -or - treating on Halloween, there are also those who like to get in some type of trouble, whether it be pulling pranks or something a little more serious. This year, as in the past years, the Goderich Police will have extra men on duty to assure everyones safety. "We are going to keep a high profile again this year, as we have done in the past, with numerous patrols," explained Goderich Police Chief Pat King. If anyone sees anything unusual hap- pening, they should get in touch with the police immediately. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR J' Minor Hockey The local teams are doing fairly well in hockey action with some teams winning while others are losing by narrow scores. For other teams it is a rebuilding season so they are just getting use to playing with new team members. For the complete run down on how the Goderich teams are doing in the early part of this season, take a look in the Recreation section. High school sports The GDCI football teams are living up to their winning reputation this year, as both the junior and seniors continue to defeat any team they play. In basketball action, the girls are doing very well, The seniors are 7-0 while the juniors are winning game after game. For pictures and details on high school sports, have a look at the Recreation section. Halloween Halloween is just around the corner as children prepare themselves for the big night of trick -or -treating. Inside this section of the paper is a story that includes four children's feelings on Halloween, as well as story on safety tips.