HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-08-09, Page 1te1
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132 YEAR -32
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Accident victim
in critical condition
A Goderich man is in critical condition at
University Hospital, London, with injuries
received in a head-on collision with another car
early last Sunday morning.
William Lewis, 20, of 175 St. David Street,
Goderich was travelling west on Highway 8,
just east of Holmsville, when the car he was
driving crossed into the eastbound lane. It
struck a car driven by Debra Wilker, 19, of
Tavistgck.
Wilker was taken to Stratford General
Hospital where she was listed in satisfactory
condition. Two other• passengers in her car,
Linda Gillis, 20, of Baden, and Christine Ekrat,
20, of Baden also sustained injuries.
The accident occurred at'3:40-a.m.
Damage was estimated at $5000 to each car.
Hydro may increase 18%
BY JEFF SEDDON
Hydro bills could increase as much as 18
percent January 1, 1980 due to an increase in
Ontario Hydro's bulk pewer rates.
The provincial utility won approval from the
Ontario Energy Board recently for a 9.9 per-
cent increase in its bulk power rates. The in-
crease is the largest in three years and will
mean hefty increases for residential, com-
mercial and industrial hydro users.
The bulk power increase, coupledwith an end
of anti-inflation rebates which have been paid
the past two years will boost rates paid by
municipal utilities by as' much as 18 percent.
George Brunet, marketing manager for
Hydro's western region, said Tuesday that an
18 percent increase is the maximum. He said
increases municipal utilities pass on to their
customers may not be that high. But he added
that if the rate 'increase is not 18 percent it
won't be much less.
The OEB listened to 14 days of hearings
before passing judgement on the request by
hydro and heard littte to suggest the increase
not be granted. Hydro claimed that its 1980
budget of $2.3 billion is up about $266 million
from this year.
Nearly half of that increase is for fuel costs
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Little man with a big bat. Susie may measure a
mere 39 inches from head to toe but she was a
sparkplug in the California Cuties questionable
victory over the Lakeport Steelers, Monday.
Susie and her female counterparts on the Cuties
entertained a large audience at Agriculture Park
with their antics. More pictures can be found on
the sports pages. (photo by Dave Sykes)
strike downs Bell
BY JEFF SEDDON
Bell Telephone workers in Goderich staged a
one day strike last: Friday which, despite a
, three day lockout by Bell in retalliation, still did
not hamper telephone service here.
Bell workers, members of Local 46 of the
Communication Workers of Canada, walked off
the job in the Stratford area which includes
Goderich, last Friday to protest stalled
negotiations. Bell responded td the move by
locking workers out for three days which should
put things back to normal by tomorrow
(Friday).
The one day strike and three. day lockout
actually interrupted - installation ,and repair
service for seven days: Bell workers scheduled
for overtime -duties over the long weekend were
not permitted to enter Bell premises.
Despite the shutdown Bell maintains that the
work in the Goderich area is on schedule. Hank
Potter, district manager for Bell, said Wed-
nesday that all repair work and installations
slated for the Stratford area should be done by
August 10, Friday. He said there were 179
residential work orders, 18 business orders and
50 ,out of service phones in the area and all
should be. looked after by the end of the week.. ....
Potter added that a major construction job in
the Goderich area is on 'schedule and should be
finished by October. He said the job is a rural
Free Press
closes bureau
The London Free Press, a daily newspaper
which enjoys strong circulation coverage in the
area will be closing both its Huron and Perth
Bureaus this fall, cutting back -6n home
,delivery in Stratford, and all areas in Huron s"
and Bruce counties, north of Highway 8.
All of Huron county. south of Highway 8, in-
cluding Clinton and Goderich, will still receive.
their morning edition by carrier boy, but other
communities north of that line will only be able
to purchase the paper at newsstands.
Garnet Dauber, circulation manager of the
Free Press, said Tuesday the closing of the
bureaus, which operate out of Goderich and
Stratford, will take place the end of August,
while home distribution will likely end on
October 1st to the northern areas.
Mr. Dauber °said that private truckers will
carry the paper into areas such as Wingham
and Blyth depending on the time they arrive in
r Turn to bake 12 •
•
project that involves removing eight party
services and reducing them to four party. He
said that job starts in the rural area and ends
urban exchanges and was to be done Over the.
summer months. •
Peter McFalls, steward for Local 46, said the
Stratford area workers on strike Friday were
part of 2,000 Bell workers that walked off the
job in Ontario and Quebec. He added that the
company lockout put 10,000 workers on the
streets.
McFalls said the union had asked the federal
government to intervene in negotiations to
attempt to settle the dispute between the
company and its employees.
The union steward said the government had
not responded to the request as yet.
Potter said he was not aware of any request
to the federal government. He said he could not
comment on the move.
Despite Bell's ability to cope with the
workload during the strike somtt in-
conveniences will still. be experienced by Bell
customers. Potter said he would not say there
would be no inconveniences but pointed out the
company had made efforts to keep problems to
a minimum.
Negotiations stalled June 11 when both sides
walked away from the bargaining table and
refused to. go back. The union was seeking a 17
percent increase in a 24 month contract which it
claims will give Ontario and Quebec Bell
workers wage parity with western Canada Bell
employee^. _
The union also warits'its members to.have the
right to refuse any overtime work.
Bell is standing pat on a conciliater's report
which recommends a 30 month contract calling
for an increase of 10.5 percent retroactive to
December 1, 1978 and eight percent increases
due.December 1, 1979 and September 1, 1980.
The company also wants the right to schedule
overtime to a maximum of 24 hours per em-
ployee in a four week period. More than six
hours overtime in a one week period would earn
employees double time.
Potter said the increases called for in the
conciliater's report would bring the average
wage of a Bell employee from $318 to $418 over
the 30 months.
He said Bell wants the right to schedule
overtime to maintain a stable staff. He Said the
nature of the telephone industry demands that.
He pointed out that there are peaks and valleys
in the trade and by scheduling overtime during.
busy periods the firm is able to avoid layoffs in
slow times.
The union is encouraging the hiring of more
staff to handle work without keeping employees
on the job for longtours.
but an additional $80 million was requested for
debt retirement and system expansion and
another $70 million is for higher interest and
depreciation costs.
The hearings were the shJrtest in recent
years despite the size of the increase. Similar
affairs conducted by the Ontario Energy Board
in 1974 aft 1975 took over a month.
The board heard a number of briefs claiming
the increase asked for by hydro was toolarge
but little was said..about why it was too large.
An anti-inflation ruling that hydro had to pass
on revenues for exported power helped keep
hydro costs down for the past two years. The
AIB limited Hydro's revenue forcing the crown
corportation to pass on revenue from the sale of
power to its bulk power customers.
Brunet said the rebate amounted to about
eight percent of the utilities' cost for bulk'
power.
Rural hydro customers may get a small
break from the latest hydro increases. Brunet
said the increase was based entirely on
wholesale hydro costs which `don't apply to
rural customers.
He explained that costs that add to rural
rates are distribution, wages and meter
reading adding that While rural rates will in-
crease they may not jump 18 percent.
Brunet said the huge fuel costs hydro faces
are for coal fired generating stations. He said
fuel costs have risen dramatically in the past
years. He added that cheaper fuel costs could
be realized if transmission lines from the Bruce
Generating Station could be built. He said
cheaper hydro is locked up at the Bruce
Nuclear Power Development. -
• He said Bruce generating station is not
operating to full capacity because there is no
way to get the power to market. He pointed out
that transmission lines from Bruce to hydro
markets have been stalled by land costs and
objections forcing the provincial utility to turn
to alternative fuels.
Al Lawson, manager of the Goderich Public
Utilities Commission, said the exact amount of
the increase to Goderich . customers has not
been determined. He said he was aware of the
bulk power rate increase and the end of the
rebate but had heard nothing officially.
He said the PUC was in the process of setting
its 1980 budget and would not know for several
weeks what kind of increase it would be asking
for. He pointed out that it wduld be at ,least 9.9
percent and could be as as much as 18 percent.
can growers suffer crop mould
BY JEFF SEDDON
Bean growers ii AUuron County' may lose as
much as 70 percent of their white bean crops
due to a fungus very little is known about.
White mould has caused a considerable
amount of damage to the white bean crop in the
county, especially in the southern townships. In
some cases, depending on the extent of the
mould, a field that should 'yield 40 bushels, of
beans. to the acre will yield' 10 bushels to the
acre:
But while damage is extensive in specific
areas it is not high enoughto suggest the bean
crop.will be a failure. •
The reason cited for the wide range in
damage to the crop is the weather. According to
Dennis Martin, a field man with the ministry of
agriculture, moistureand white mould don't
mix.
The mould thrives in areas that received
extensive amounts of moisture. Fields with
good bean growth that received lengthy periods
of moisture are hardest hit by the mould.
• Martin said southern areas of the county
received substantially more rainfall than the
north and thus were hit harder by mould.
Researchers are looking into ways of com-
bating the mould. What is now known about it is
limited and thus bean growers can get little
information about what to do when they
discover mould.
Martin said two sprays are available to offer
some protection against the fungus. The
sprays, Benlate and Easeout, offer some
protectio,n but are not cures.
Martin said if the weather co-operates the
mould will not form. 'He said it needs one day of
moisture to affect the beans but if that moisture
is followed by a drying period no damage will
be incurred.
But if there are two days of moisture the
farmers have problems.
The sprays available give growers a 10 day
protection Aeriod. After -application the beans
will be protected from mould for 10 days .no
matter what the weather.
Economics dictate the use of the spray which
costs $18 an acre to buy and five dollars an acre
to apply.
Ministry officials are telling farmers if it is
wet and they have applied spray they have 10
days of protection. If it turns dry and there was
no need for the spray they will have a good.crop
of beans and can afford the spray.
oliday weekend brings.
out tourists in numbers
'BY CATH WOODEN
Over the holiday weekend, Goderich saw an
influx of tourists that packed accommodations
in the town -and all along Lake Huron:
According to Mac Campbell, chairman of the
tourist committee, Goderich was "busting at
the seams" over the long. weekend. Although it
wasn't an American holiday, Campbell said
Goderich had its share of visitors from the
other side of the border. He said a possible
reason is the'relaxation of gas concerns there.
Ruth Brown, an employee at Point Farms.
Provincial Park, said the campgrounds were
totally full from Tuesday of last week through
to Sunday. She said the park was full last year
too, but only from Friday to 'Sunday of the
August 1 weekend. -.
The park has about the same number of
Americans. coming .this year as before, she
said, and the also the usuatbunch of rowdies.
"But it's nothing compared to the May 24
weekend, wh•ich.is always worse," she said.
Ms. Brown couldn't give a reason for the
increased nilmbers this summer, but
speculated that last year's rise in rates shocked
people into staying away for awhile.
Nothin' like a day at the beach. Eighteen month old Courtney Fair- water but, as evidenced by the third photo, the youngster didn't seem'to
brother of St. Marys was ready for a big day at the beach Friday as he • mind the refreshing dip and continued on his exploratory journey.
appraoched the Water with his spoon and shovel and a contented grin on (photos by Dave Sykes)
his face. But then it big wave rolled in knocking Courtney down into the