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WINGHAM ADVANCE -TIMES
P.O. Box 390, 5 Diagonal Road
Wingham, Ontario, NOG 2W0
The Wingham Lindon.
Motel opened their
doors for the official
grand opening.
Page 3
Radio personality Bruce
Morgan joins the A -T
with his own outlook
on issues this week..
Page 5.
Belgrave Midget
pitcher Brent Robinson
tossed a perfect game
in playoff action.
Page 6
the
Union
Gas to
train
fire dept.
To be done as
part of regular
training sessions
Fire chief Harley Gaunt
told the Wingham Area
fire board last, Wednes-
day evening that Union Gas of-
- ficials will be providing training
for the local fire fighters.
He said that training will be-
gin in September, and will. in-
volve how to fight natural gas
fires.
Deputy ..chief Lynn Hickey
said the Union Gas officials will
show the fire fighters where the
shut off valves are located on
the hook-ups to the residences
and businesses.
Chief Gaunt said the Union
Gas officials will do the training
here in Wingham, and that it
would be done during regular
training sessions.
The chief. addedthat they are
also in the process of setting up
a mock evacuation exercise for
the Fordwich Village Nursing
Home, for the fall.
He noted that high school stu-
dents will be used as the pa-
tients during the moch evacua-
tion, but that will still provide
training for the nursing home's
staff.
75th School
fair tribute
in honor of the 75th anniver-
sary of the Belgrave-Brussels
and Blyth School Fair, The Ad-
vance -Times is planning a trib-
ute to the fair in the Sept. 6 edi-
tion of the newspaper.
This year the fair will be held
on Friday, Sept. 15. It is the
only school -centred fair remain-
ing in the province and has been
a local tradition since 1920.
As part of our coverage, The
Advance -Times is looking for
your memories of the fair, pho-
tographs, even old prize lists, to
run as part of the special edition
of Sept. 6. Those with stories to
share about the fair or photo-
graphs are asked to contact the
newspaper office at 357-2320 or
Margaret Stapleton at 357-2305.
Help us celebrate a muchaJoved
tradition in our community.
OPA Meeting
News
Editorial
Letters
Sports
Farm News
T.V. Guide
Classifieds
Horoscopes
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 5
Page 10
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Page 12
Page 14
A LOOK AT,
Restoring the sounds of the
classic Victrola: Gary's Olde
Tyme Radio. Centre.
Page 14
The Wingharn Advance -Times
Is a member of a family of community
' newspapers providing news,
advertising and information leadership
A
,
Playoff pressure...Wingham Legion squirt pitcher Zachary O'Krafka had to deal
with the pressure of the playoffs as his team took to the field against the Wingham Optimist
Squirt Reds last Thursday evening. O'Krafka pitched well, but the Legion Squirts fell 8-7 to their
town rivals.
Kerrs awarded contract
By JIM. BROWN
The Advance -Times
The Wingham airport moved
another step closer to becoming
reality last Thursday when the ten-
der for Phase I of the project was
awarded.
A total of three tenders were re-
ceived for the project. All three
tenders were below the engineers
estimate cost of $1,370,707.60.
H. Kerr Construction of Wing -
ham was the successful tender
with a bid of $1,045,796.60. The
tender price for Phase I included
$173,340 for the paving of the
runway, which was originally set
to be part of Phase II of the pro-,
ject.
Coun. Bill McGrath made a mo-
tion to accept the tender from H.
Kerr Construction for Phase 1 of
the municipal airport, subject to
the approval of the road closing
status currently under considera-
tion by the Ministry of Municipal
Affairs and Housing. The motion
was seconded by coun. Denise
Wilkins -Treble and unanimously
carried.
The town is expected to have a
response from the ministry by the
end of chis week or early next
week.
It was back in April that the
town received a letter from the
Minister of Transportation, infom-
ring them that approval had been
reached by the ministry to fund the
construction of the Winghan and
District Municipal Airport.
At a meeting held May 1, coun-
oil passed , a by-law enabling the
mayor and clerk to sign an agree-
ment, prepared by the ministry, to
proceed with construction of the
airport as per the financial ar-
rangements proposed whereby the
ministry wi11 provide $?,40000
of, the $2,928,000 project. The
town along. , with local industry
would contribute the balance over
two years. The town's 1995 share
will come from reserves.
Work on Phase I of the project
is expected to begin by the end of
the month. The project has not
been affected by recent provincial
government funding cuts.
It was noted that it would be
easier to have the runway paved
this fall because Hwy. 86 between
Wingham -and Lucknow is being
paved at the same time.
The town will also have to carry
$334,380 forward to April 1996
before receiving any more funds
from ..the government. However,
about $250,000 of that total is
Wescast Industries Inc. contribu-
tion towardss the project. •
Also' subinit'ting tenders were
Lavin Contratting of Clinton. and
SOT Construction of Oakville.
Grocery store reps
leave council with
little persuasion"
By MARGARET STAPLETON
The Advance -Times
Representatives of National Gro-
cers came armed with pie charts,
market analyses and statistics and
in the end there waslittle town
council to do to persuade the retail-
ers to operate two grocery stores in
town.
Kevin Ryan and Leo Bujeya of
National Grocers attended the Au-
gust meeting of town council to
bring members up to date on chang-
es in the grocery business in gener-
al and their plans for Wingham in
particular.
The past several months have
seen phenomenal change in the gro-
cery business in Wingham. First,
Zehrs announced earlier this year
that -it -was closing its Wingham
outlet in favor of superstores in Lis-
towel and Goderich.
However; local residents were
handed a "double whammy" late
Last month when they learned that
the local K Food (Knechtel) store
had been sold to ValuMart and
would be relocating to the former
Zehrs store in the plaza at the south
of town.
The changes brought a grounds-
well of shock and protest at the lo-
cal level, particularly among sen-
iors who frequented the downtown
store. Also of concern is the fate of
the former K Food store. Ryan con-
firmed that Valu -mart has bought
the eight-year lease on the building.
In response to the concerns of
many residents, Councillor Doug
Layton said he was in contact with
representatives of National Grocers
and they were invited to attend the
August meeting of council.
Ryan started his address by tell-
ing council members he hoped to
give them "a sense of why we (Na-
tional Grocers) are reluctantto
open two stores in this market-.
place".
Like Zehrs, Valu -mart is part of •
Loblaws, said Ryan and operates
160 franchise stores in 'Ontario.
"Our goal is to provide service at a
'competitive price and make a profit •
for re -investment."
Earlier this year, Alex MacGre- • .
gor, K Food owner, was ap-
proached to see if he would be Mir
terested in taking over the former
Zehrs store. MacGregor declined,
but was willing to negotiate a sale
of the K Food store, which was
completed last month.
Changes in the marketplace are
necessitating those- in the retail
food business to. move to "larger,
larger and larger stores," said RIran: •
These "superstores" feature not
only basic foodstuffs. but specialty .
services such as photofinishing,
banks, pharmacies, video rental and
even fast food outlets.
The future of retail also is being
reshaped by the increase of home-
shopping, even on-line computer
shopping, mass merchants and
shopping clubs. As well, retail
giants such as Wal-Mart are plan-
ning to take a large bite out of the
food -buying market by the turn of
the century.
Food industry analysts predict
that only larger, higher -volume su-
permarkets will survive in the new
economy, said Ryan. "We're just
trying to position ourselves in the
same way,"
Rather than join the Valu -mart
Please see STORE/3
MORRIS TOWNSHIP
council grant
cut by $25,000
Township roads superintendent
Lloyd Michie told Morris Town-
ship council last Tuesday that the
municipality would only be re-
ceiving half of the $50,000 supple-
mental grant from the provincial
government.
The roads superintendent said
that the supplemental grant was to
be used towards the paving of
Centre Side Road.
Michie said that the paving has
already been done and the town-
ship may "be left holding the bag
for $25,000."
He added that regular alloca-
tions have also been cut for next
year.
The question before council was
whether to take the $25,000 out of
the municipality's reserve funds or
take the money from the roads
budget.
Michie noted that he had , bud-
getted $32,000 for the upgrading
of the Terpstra Road.
Councillor John Duskocy said
something should be done with the
corner. He said it should be made
wider so trucks could make the
turn, especially in the winter.
Roads superintendent Michie
said he would try to improve the
corrner, but some of the other
work may have to wait until next
year.
"I'll find the $25,000 in the
budget someplace," he said. "I'll'
work"within the budget."
Council will again be looking at
access to the McCrae Cemetery.
Coun, Kevin Pletch said that it
would be better if Jane Street were
extended to a ditch which will pro-
vide access to drainage.
Roads superintendent Michie
said the previous proposal would
have required a lot of fill and grav-
• el.
Coun. Pletch said the previous
proposal only had a 15 foot right-
of-way. He said that wasn't going
to be enough area, and that 55 to
65 foot would be needed to pro-
vide the proper access.
Coun. Duskocy said that it
would probably be the better way
to go.
Coun. Pletch said that cost wise
and in the long run, extending Jane
Street would be the better way to
go.
More MORRIS News/2