The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-07-19, Page 1Catching a few rays. Itwas hot and humid for
the Goderich Festival of the Arts last week and
Dave Shearer managed to find time between
Police settle
contract
Members of the 'local police association have
ratified a one-year contract with the town
providing salary increases of eight per cent
over 1978.
The salary increases are retroactive to
January 1, .1979.• First-class constables will
receive' a yearly •salary of $]9,021 up from
$17,612 last year. Second-class constables will
receive $17,347 this year; third-class constables
$15,991;., and fourth-class constables $12,856:
The two sergeants on the Goderich Police
Force -will receive 819,935. '
In addition to salary increases, police officers
will receive time and a half pay for working on
statutory holidays, effective Thursday, July 12
when contract negotiations ended.
A separate civilian contract grantingan eight
percent salary increase to the force's
secretary -dispatcher has also been ratified.
The §alaries of the dispatchers hired in April
for the new police communications system
remain unchanged.
The police contracts have .'been- under
negotiation since June 1.
Up to 10 weeks
for bridge repair
Are you growing impatient over the delays at.
the CNR bridge on Highway 21 at the northern
limits of Goderich?
Well there is some good and bad news on the
progress of the -bridge construction.
The good' news is that the repair work will be
completed this year. The bad news is that it will
take up to ten weeks before traffic is back to
normal over thetwo•bridges on •Highway 21.
The Honorable James Snow said it will take
work crews another two to three weeks to
complete repair work on the upper bridge. The.
repairs to thelower bridge .over the Maitland
River will require an'' 'additional six weeks
yvorli.'
Crews are on.th,e job four days per week.
Sheardown
remanded
BY JEFF•SEDDON
Timothy L. Sheard -own appeared in
provincial court Monday facing three charges
^ involving firearms and was remanded back
into custody'at the Ontario Mental Health Care
Centre at Penetanguishene.
The 28 year old Goderich resident was
returned to Penetang for an additional 30 days
psychiatric treatment and was ordered to
appear in court August 13. He is charged with
. intent to wound using a firearm, possession of
weapons dangerous to the public peace and use
of .firearms.. while committing and indictable
offence. ,
The charges were laid May 24 after a
shooting incident at the federal building on
East; Street. Shortly after noon May 23 a man
`toting a shotgun took over the federal building
herding ertrployees of the Canada Manpower
Office into a storage, room.
The employees fashioned a makeshift rope
from curtains and lowered themselves out a
second story window but the gunman refused to
come out of the building and held Goderich
police and members of the Ontario Provincial
Police Tactical Rescue Unit at bay for more
than 12 hours.
After more than eight hours of negotiations
the gunman finally threw .out his Weapon and
surrendered;
Sheardowrl appeared in provincial court May
24.. on the same charges and was remanded'to-
1 Penetang for 60 days of extensive psychiatric
exatliniation.
browsers to catch up on a bit of sleep and work
on his tan. Wlien he wasn't resting Shearer was
displaying wood carvings and mirrors at the
three day festival. (photo•by Dave Sykes
Plaza bylaw appy vea
BY DAVE SYKES
Goderich town council pissed a bylaw
Monday permitting the construction of a mini
plaza on $ayfield Road.
The bylaw rezoned the parcel of land ad-
jacent to the ' Suncaest Mall from Develop-
mental to Highway Commercial to permit the
6.600 square foot plaza proposed by. •Lamor
Enterprises.
The bylaw was given final reading despite a
letter •from Huron Comity Planner. Roman.
Dzus, warning council that some' of the
proposed uses of the mall may not conform to
the highway commercial designation and also
that it may have a detrimental effect on the
core area.
The bylaw passed by council will permit the
following uses: an auto parts store, an 'auto
specialty store, a financial institution, a con-
venience store, an eating establishment, a real
-estate office, a drug store, a building supplies
and hardware store, a beer store, a liquor store
and a film sales and processing shop.
Dzus said it was critical to establish con-
formity and wanted council to understand that
some of the uses proposed for the plaza fall into
a grey area and may not conform to the town's • recently constructed grandstand at the
offical plan. He explained that if the Ontario Ag• riculture Sports Complex will have a new
Municipal Board disagrees with the usesthe name.
bylaw will be turned back. The Goderich Sports Committee introduced a
Reeve Eileen Palmer objected strongly to the motion, that was ratified by council Monday,
Dzus letter claiming the planners had no recommending' that the new grandstand be
business advising the town on the economic renamed the Ronald Feagan Memorial Centre.
impact -of the project. - - • Councilosupported the motion in a recorded.
"All excuses to delay the project have been vote.
used by the planners and none of them are Feagan died at his farm near Dundas,
valid," she said. Friday, January 12.
, Councillor Elsa Haydon rebuffed Palmer's Feagan was one of harness racing's great
pstatements suggesting the opinions of the drivers and during his 21 -year career he won
rofessional people were of invaluable, more than 3,000 races and was the recipient of_
assistance to council in making decisions. the Golden Horseshoe Circuits Horseman of the
"Planner's opinions, reviews and predictions . Year award.
help me but everyone still makes up their own He was born in West Wawanosh Township
mind," Haydon said: "Professional opinions on March 10, 1942 and even as a youngster•showed
matters is helpful and I am grateful that he promise in the sport.•He won his 'first race at
took it upon himself to point things out." the age of 16\and could always be found around
Councillor Jim Searls said the matter the barns at the Goderich Raceway.
deserved consideration since the town already
had two malls that were not filled.
, -•I just don't want to see more empty stores in
town,".he said.
Dzus said there was a critical lack of high-
way commercial land in Goderich and he
wanted -to be certain it was usedproperly.
•'It would be a misuse to allow retail com-
mercial to occupy highway commercial land,"
he said. " Highway commercial projects have a'
dependancy on highway exposure and should
cater to vehicular trade."
qa
Palmer said council must consider the in-
creased assessment the town would realize
from a new mall.
Grandstand named
Ron Feagan
Memorial Centre
•
132 YEAR -29
THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1979
35 CENTS PER COPY
C wants to buy
ro
the very • near future and tenders and con- property, which is inevitable,' they will be
struction will proceed. • responsible tor the removal of the house from
If council agrees to the sale of the Lighthouse the site. Council has .ready granted per-
BY DAVE SYKES
Goderich town council will have to sell a
Lighthouse Street property to the Ontario.
Housing Corporation for official approval of the
senior citizen's complex on Waterloo Street.
Council, learned from Ministry of Housing
project co-ordinator, Daryl Kreutzer; that off
site parking was needed to augment existing
parking for the proposed complex before the
OHC was likely to approve the project.
The town purchased two properties on
Lighthouse Street, with one to be -utilized for off
site parking but the OHC wants to purchase the
land fora nominal fee of $2:
Refinements to the drawings of the proposed
53 unit -.seniors' complex limited parkjng spaces
to 17. Kreutzer said that surveys of tennants
indicate that as many as 50 per cent of the
.people own cars: .
The 60 by 94 foot rectangualr lot on
Lighthouse street would provide an additional
11 parking spaces and satisfy OHC
requirements. Under the agreement of sale the
OHC would buy the land from the town for $2,
but the town would be responsible for removing
the existing 'building. The Ministry would be
responsible for development costs, estimated
at $5,000.
Council elected to table the matter of the sale
until thekrugust 1-5 meeting: _
Reeve Eileen Palmer balked at the paltry
sale figure _ and accused the. Ministry of
procrastinating on the seniors project. She
suggested that events were not proceeding
within the allotted time frame and if the units
were not built until 1980 ways concerned the town
would be paying excessive interest on the'
$150,000 price'tag of the land.
"The town is p'a'ying interest on $150,000 and
we will pay interest on it all winter if it isn't
built," she said. "If that is the case we would
want market value dollar for the Lighthouse
lot.'
Kreutzer assured Palmer the town would not
.be burdened with interest payments claiming
the Ministry will purchase the land within the
next few months from the town. •
"Once soil tests are done and the ministry is
satisfied it will buy the site," he said. "There
will be no financial burden to the municipality.
The -site is expensive and the Ministry is paying
a premium but they are going along becuase of
the number of units. It is the most expensive
land we have bought iffthe area."
Kreutzer was also satisfied that the project.
was proceeding on schedule and said the six
week demolition 'period was longer than an-
ticipated. Council delayed entering the
agreement for sale of the land until the August
15 Meeting. ' ' -
Soil testing of the land is to.. a completed„in
er
fo.r
mission to Dorothy Wallace for removal of :the
building. The building will be transported to a
another site owned by Wallace.
Erosion problem
prompts study
BY JEFF SE'DDON
The Maitland : Valley
Conservation Authority
knows that significant
chunks of Huron County
slide into Lake Huron
• every year and is now
trying to find out just how
fast those chunks are
disappearing.
To try to find out how
' fast the bluffs along the
lakeshore are eroding the
MVCA is involved in a co-
• operative work program
with two honours
geography, students this
summer studying about
20- of the 96 - lakebarrk
gullies in the Maitland
Valley watershed.
The students, Ralph
Schroth and Andy
Emanski, .. are - both
studying at Wilfred
Laurier University- in
Watewloo and this
summer are carefully
. monitoring gully erosion
along the lake hank in
Huron County.
' Gully erosion has long
been a problem in Huron
but in the past year' it has
become a prime concern
for the MVCA and several
municipalities bordering
the lake. Exhaustive
studieshave already
been completed in the
past year .and more 'in-
formation is ` being
gathered to attempt to
determine how the
problem can be com-
bated.
The concern over the
gully erosion is twofold.
Not only are large par-
cels of prime agricultural
land. decreasing ini size
every year many cottage
owners are fighting
losing battles. trying' to
keep their summer
homes from going/to the
bottom of the lake/bank.
The study being done
'this summer is designed
to let technologists with
the MVCA know just how
fast and Why the gullies
are gro ing. Part of the
problem with gully
erosion is that there is no
comrnon denominator as
to what causes them.
Improper drainage of
land above the lake bank,
development of cottages,
road patterns,
agricultural practices
and cutting out bush
areas have all been cited
as causes of erosion. The
reasons for erosion are
many what the MVCA
wants to find out is what
the solutions are.
Elmanski and Schroth
are carefully monitoring
20 gullies along the bank.
Sediment tests of the
water flowing thr=ough the
gully, records of rainfall
totals and intensity of
storms, drainage pat-
terns, agricultural
practices, road patterns
and cottage development
have"4all been charted in
the gullies.
The pair is also in-
terviewing landowners
near the gullies to at-
tempt to learn something
of their history. They
want to know 'how much
the gully has grown and
are looking for longtime
landowners that have
Turn to page b •
Andy Emanski is spending his summer in gullies,along the Lake Huron shoreline
gathering water satnples 'to test sediment Levels and charting the growth, of
[gullies widened through erosion. He and a fellow honours geography student
1 Ralph Schroth are gathering infottmation on the gullies that hopefully can be used
to outline remedial measures aimed at slowing up or stopping the erosion. (photo
by Jeff Seddon) ..