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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-09-20, Page 1One would have to be a student at Goderich District Collegiate Institute to know why these people are pushing peanuts across a gym- nasium floor with their noses. The ritual was forced on Grade 9 students at GDCI by their senior counterparts as part of initiation ceremonies -at the school Friday. For any student that felt pushing a peanut across the floor with his or her nose was undignified the seniors had a list of other tasks the freshmen 132—YEAR 38 J7, secondary school stud Nits could do instead. Friday's welcome for the new students was capped off by a pep rally and two exhibition football games at GDCI, both of which were won by the home team. (photo by Dave Muffitt) Goodtaste too expensive ay JEFF SEDDON " Goderich town council decided Monday night to put up with what some members called old chairs and clashing colours in the council chambers. In a recorded vote council decided by a 5-4 margin it would not spend mon y on new chairs and drapes for the council charr3bers. A ecommendation from the town's property com ittee to make the changes in the cham- bers of nowhere with council. Councillor Jim Magee, chairman off that committee, told council the new chairs may make it easier for council members to navigate about the rolbm during council sessions. He added that the drapes on the chamber windows were aged and hinted that the colour was less than ideal. The thinking of the property committee. was that new chairs, equipped with casters, could make it easier for members to rise to speak during council sessions. It would also be more convenient on the occasions the public ventures to a council session and crowds the chambers. The' committee felt the chairs now used by council could be put in another meeting room. Councillor Elsa Haydon said she saw nothing wrong with the colour scheme. She said the blue in the chairs and the green in the drapes were both picked up by the carpet. Councillor Jim Searls•said he would rather see the money that would be spent on chairs, about $2,000, go to the tornado relief fund in Oxford county. Reeve Palmer commented the colours "do look a little hellish with the green and blue". She' said she didn't know what some people :17:(13:, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1979 35 CENTS PER COPY Council chooses to ignore bylaw • BY JEFF SEDDON Goderich town council decided Monday night to turn the other cheek on Sovie's Fisheries when it learned Monday night the- firm is breaking the town's•zoning bylaw.' Council was told Sovie was operating a fish and chip take out store at his waterfront location and was adivsed that the practice was illegal according to the town's Restricted Area Bylaw. The fishery is located on the south side of the harbour on land that, according to the official plan, is zoned industrial. That zoning allowed a fish' processing plant which is what council maintains Sovie planned to do when he con- structed the building he now occupies. Jim Sovie, owner of Sovies Fisheries, claims otherwise and council, at this point, does not intend to argue the point'. Sovie said Tuesday he doesn't understand the problem over the zoning. He said when he originally planned a building he applied for, and received, a building permit •for a $100,000 ,. project which included an apartment, restaurant and wholesale -retail fish outlet. Teachers, BY JEFF SEDDON The appointment of a fact finder to assist the Huron County board of education and its teachers reach a contract agreement for 1979- 80 is not necessarily a•gign that contract ,talks have stalled. The fact finder was ap,pOinted September 12 by the Education Relations Commission to assist both parties by reporting on the state' of negotiations and to determine the outstanding 0 issues. The appointment was made under the terms of the Education Act and is not being construed as a sign that teacher negotiations are'. at a standstill. Dr, Da'vid"Moore, a lawyer from Toronto, will meet with negotiating teams from the teachers and the board within 30 days and write a report He said he an another investor planned the project but before work started the investor ` backed. out. He said he altered his plans somewhat, moved his building 40 feet from its original site, and started work. He tore down a shack that was on the lot and constructed brick building. Sovie said the original building permit was issued by Roy Breckinridge, then building. inspector for the town. He added that at no time was any mention made of contravention of the zoning bylaw. ' The original project was never started. When Sovie began work on the building that' now exists the site was visited by Ken Hunter, cheif building official for the town. Sovie said that when' Hunter learned what had transpired he advised Sovie he needed another- building permit. That permit was issued and Sovie continued work. Sovie assumes that the Hunter merely transferred the building permit Breckinridge had issued to the new project. That assumption js made on the basis that Hunter charged Sovie no money for the new permit and had taken plans for the new building with him to his office. Hunter's understanding of the matter :is a little different'.. He says the building permit Breckinridge had issued had expired and. that he issued a new permit for the building now in existence. He adds that the permit is for a fish processing plant and did not include a take out stand. - Sovie says he has no intention of closing his' take out business regardless of • council's decision. He says he does a good business with truck drivers coming and going from the grain elevators and, wants to keep that business going. He said if council '"put a lock on the door I'll knock it off," adding "I,'11 go to jail". Council showed no signs of doing anything that drastic Monday night Hunter sent a letter to Sovie telling him his fish and chip outlet is an illegal use and ad- vising.him he should apply to the town to have a zoning change. A copy of that letter went to council for any further action, Hunter explained to council that his job is to point out the illegal use. He added board stiliboard talking setting down the positions of both parties. The report may or may not make recommendations as to how a settlement can be reached, John Cochrane, director of eduction. for Huron, said the appointment of the fact finder was necessary according to the law. He said the Education Act requires a fact finder to be appointed if settlement has not been reached in September. Cochrane said the main reason no settlement has been reached here is because negotiations broke off for the summer months. He said talks are just now resuming. The'director said the opening round of con- tract talks took place in February in ac- cordance with the Education Act. Negotiating teams were set up and met once according to the law. More meetings were scheduled in the spring of the year but ended with the arrival of summer. The director said he has been sitting in on talks thus fat but would not comment on any issues. He said both parties agreed not to make any negotiations public. •He said the teachers and board have not reached an impasse. He would say that while the talks are slow they are fruitfful. The contract settled after the 31 day teacher strike in 1978 expired in June of 1979 and teachers returning to the classroom in Sep- tember did so with no agreement with the board. That situation occurred in September of 1977 when contract talks were stalled and resulted in the strike in February of 1978. Neither the teachers nor the board is Turn to page 'LII • Council decides to ask first, name later BY JEFF SEDDON Just prior to passing a bylaw Monday night naming county planner Gary Davidson as an advisor ' to the Goderich Architectural Con- servation Advisory -Committee, (LACAC) town council decided it may be wise to, ask Davidson if he would take the job. Council gave first and second reading to a bylaw naming members to LACAC before noting that the bylaw appointed Davidson to the committee in an advisory capacity and it wasn't known if the planner had any interest in serving in that capacity. The bylaw was drawn up to replace an earlier document rescinded by council. Davidson has been a member of LACAC for the past five years but recently became the centre of council's attention due to an alleged conflict of interest. The conflict of interest issue was raised several months ago after town solicitor Dan Murphy apparently told council the planner °may have a pbteri'tiai` con"flirt of intere's't. Council's actions to remove Davidson as a voting Member and chairman of the committee and make his role an advisory one has been as a result of those comments made by the solicitor. The issue sparked some lively debate at the council table and Monday night was no ex- ception. Councillor Elsa Haydon, angered by what she called council's "despicable" treatment of Davidson, delivered a hand written address to council containing her opinions on the matter but council refused to accept it. Haydon read her account of the matter and told council she would like the written copy to appear verbatim in council minutes. Her request was flatly turned down. Haydon blasted council for its handling of the matter pointing out that the' town has asked Davidson to be "instrumental" in reviewing and updating the town's official_plan and zoning bylaw ands yet "some of us cannot trust Mr. Davidson With chairing' a relatively minor committee giving advice on subjects on which council alone makes decisions" :Council seemed concerned about the fact that Davidson, as a county employee in the planning department, worked for thie town when Goderich requested the county planners to do some work. Some felt that Davidson wearing two hats had a conflict of interest and could n serve both the town and the county on LACAC Haydon scoffed at that suggestion pointing out that the town paying apportionments for county services did not make county employees town employees. She noted that"the town paid apportionment to the board of education asking if that made teachers employees of the town of Goderich. She also noted that the town solicitor worked in a firm that represented the county, the board of education and several townships and that no member of council suspected any conflict of interest from its lawyer. Haydon said she regarded council's action on the Davidson matter as an "attempt at character assassination by insinuation". She, told council that it may have opened the door ,to a lawsuit over the matter and wars ,'ope h•ing any cam m it -tee oriperson fur similar treatment by insinuation and assumption", Reeve Eileen Palmer was Tess than happy Turn to page 20 !to that "it's up to council what is done". He said "it's council's bylaw it's up to council to enforce it''.. Councillor Bob Allen told' council there 'has always been 'an eating establishinent of some sort at the harbour and probably always will be. He cautioned council not to be hasty in its decision to prevent an error being committed. Councillor Jim Magee said he Was a• little confused about the description of Sovies' operation. He said it is being called a restaurant by some and a take out by others., "Is this thing a restaurant?" he asked. He pointed out that there is a big difference between a restaurant and a take out store. Magee's confusion may stem from the fact that, according to Sovie, the retired ar- chitectural designer drew up the plans for the building. Reeve Eileen Palmer said the land Sovies' building is on may not be in the town's jurisdiction. She said the land is owned by the federal government and leased to Sovie. She pointed out that the town traditionally leased the town but a few years ago, when the lease expired, the town was a little "slow at the draw" and the lease was picked up by Sovie. Clerk Larry McCabe said it didn't matter who held the lease. He said whoever builds on the land is subject to the bylaws of the Turn to nag e2()• considered to be colour co-ordinates. Mayor Worsell, reeve Palmer, deputy -reeve Allen and councillor Magee voted in favor of the new furniture while councillors Knights, Doherty, Haydon, Searls and Profit opposed. Champion lays off 52 workers Champion Road Machinery Company Ltd. announced Wednesday it is laying off 52 em- ployees beginning September 24. Iain Bain, vice president of employee relations at Champion,'said employees at the firm had been notified this week of the layoff. Bain said the layoff was caused by the recent completion of the firm's "extremely large and unusual order for Turkey". He said to meet the deadline for the Turkey order Champion had to increase its daily production of road graders from just over four machines a day to just over seven. He said to do that an additional 100 to`150 people had to be hired. He said the layoff would bring the Champion work force back to what it was prior to the Turkey order. The layoff was. done according to seniority. Bain said the most senior employee laid off was hired March 15, 1978. The vice president could not say if the em- ployees would ever be recalled. He said another large order could force the firm to increase production again and put it in a hiring position. He said to look forward to a recall would be "misleading" for employees being laid off. Bain said• the layoff was strictly according to seniority. He said if a junior man was working in Gearco he would be laid off and an employee from the firm's main plant would be tran- sferred. Restaurants vandals target Break-ins occurred at two take-out food establishments in and near Goderich on Monday evening. Larry Jeffrey's take-out food.b.uilding located at the Goderich beach was broken into and about.$ -1,200 damage was done. No theft was involved. Goderich police ' ac'e still in- vestigating. Sky Ranch Drive -In, owned by Mi. and Mrs. Gerry Nurse and located on Highway 21 North in Colborne Township, was also broken into and received about $2,000 damage. Machines were tipped over and a freezer was punctured with a screw driver. Minor theft of some cigarettes - was involved. The Goderich Detatchment of the O.P.P. are still investigating. Bomb squad removes acid The bomb disposal squad of the Mount Forest Detatchment of the Ontario Provincial Police paid a visit to G.D,C.I. on Wednesday to remove a partially crystalized bottle of picric acid. Picric acid, used in laboratory tests to detect protein, is harmless in its liquid state. But if allowed to dry out and crystalize, it becomes highly explosive. All Ontario high schools were asked to check their laboratory supplies for picric following the discovery of the chemical at a high school in Thunder Bay last week. The' bottle of acid, believed to have been in the Hillcrest ' High School for about 25 years and found in a routine stock check, was removed by the provincial police bomb squad and detonated at the city du m p. When detonated, the acid had the explosive force of several sticks of dynamite, a police spokesman said. These four Vietamese students are now registered at G.D.C.1. Left to right are brothers Thang Hoang, 115 and Chien Hoang, 17, who are sponso ed by M chaeland Kathleen' Moriarty of R.R. 2 Goderich; Bao Ngoc Hoang, 18, who is g_ sp(insoredhy Alfons and Martha Wick of R.R. 2 Goderich; and Cite Ngoc Ha, 18, who is spon- sored py Gilbert and Anna Brand of R.R. 2 Hayfield. Thang and Chien are in Grade 9 and Bao and Cue are in Grade 11. Here they all look over a math book. They have no trouble un- derstanding the universal numbers. Besides math, ' they take Grade 9 English, *ping, fami1.3i studies, physical educatlo and technical courses. Since they are immersed in the EngII h language, they are learning it last. (Photo hyJoanne Buchanan)