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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-03-16, Page 1Blyth Branch Libvary Boat 20 2 Blyth Owe, • NOM 1R• Jan. 4 MYTH SAM BONDI, a Wingham artist, was honored recently when he was awarded second prize for his oil and acrylic painting at an art show held at the Durham Art Gallery. The painting of a scene along the Maitland River still is hanging on display in the Durham gallery. He is seen with two rtf t' other paintings. Council considers grant toward planting program Wingham council has asked its finance and works committees to consider a request by the Wingham Horticultural Society for a grant toward the society's annual tree -94_010$ progrannn town. • For the past several years council has donated $500 a year to the program, which has planted 50 new trees in each of thepast two years, with the rest of the money coming from the horti- cultural society. However Ed Fielding and Roy Bennett of the society told council last week that the energetic program of the past two years has exhausted the group's reserves, and this year it will .have only enough money, to plant 25 trees: They said it is up to council to decide whether it wants to makeup the difference. At $35 a tree, it costs $875 t ',Pl v This cost hats been held down. to the same level as last year, Mr. Bennett noted. He said the society is not asking for any specific • amount. "However many trees you want planted." • However he noted it needs to know within a few weeks, since the planting should be done before the trees break their winter dormancy.' He also told council the society is beginning to vary its plantings somewhat from the Norway maple, a fast-. growing hard maple recommended for town planting, which formed the standard in previous years. Last year some of the trees planted were a type of red maple, whil$tsta,will. be.. planting . some sugar. maples: In response to a question from council, he confirmed that all the trees are guaranteed to grow, and any failures should be reported immediately. Asked about the wisdom of establishing a pruning program for them, he said most should not need pruning. Mr. Bennett also suggested that council should consider levying a Alcoholic referral service is started in Huron County By T. Marr Following three and a half years of planning, a. much- needed and long-awaited service is now available to Huron County residents. The Huron Council for Action on Alcohol and other Drugs (CAAD) has set up an assessment and referral service for people suffering from alcohol or drug-related problems. The service will be provided in five centres across the county, operating Out of the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital, Goderich, South Huron Hospital, Exeter, Seaforth Community Hospital and the Wingham and Clinton mental health resource centres. The Addiction Re- search Foundation, London, also will play a major role in the program. Bill Murdock, a repre- sentative of the ARF, said two main objectives of the service are to find the rea- sons for a problem and then develop a treatment program for the alcohol or drug -hurt individual. He described the Huron service as "a unique model and the only one of its kind", explaining it is a cooperative system which makes use of existing services. Instead of offering a service at one central location, the system has been planned to be ac- cessible to all county residents. The Goderich hospital is providing a central phone number which anyone can call for help or information. Grant Ellison, the program coordinator, then will contact the assessment centre closest to the in- dividual's home to follow up the call. The centre, with the individual's cooperation, will do an assessment of the problems, plan a treatment program and perform periodic follow-up assess-, ments. Calling the .assessment service the cornerstone of the treatment program, Mr Murdock said each centre will ensure there is a very careful and thorough identification of problems. "The more specific we are in treating the problems, the better the results will be." If the assessment and referral service or the client decides a specific treatment plan is not working, the centre will do a new assess- ment and develop another course of action. The new service is being provided at no direct cost to the clients or county tax- payers. The Goderich hospi- tal is providing the telephone service and staff at each centre have agreed to take on the additional work. Anyone wanting to take advantage of this service can call either 524-7111 (Goder- ich) or 357-1614 in the Wing - ham area. Council payments were quite modest The remuneration and expenses paid to members of the Wingham Town Council last year were quite modest, figures compiled by the clerk's office indicate. Municipalities are now required by law to compile a year- end statement of payments to councillors, and this was presented to town council at its meeting last week. It shows that Mayor William Harris, with an honorarium and meeting allowance of $2,260 and expenses of $55.55, was the highest-paid council member at $2,315.55. Next was Councillor James A. Currie at $2,103.55, made up of an honorarium and meeting allowance of $1,520 and $583.55 in convention expenses. Former councillor John Swan was third with $1,660 in honorarium and meeting allowance, followed by Councillor Tom Miller at $1,628, of which $28 was expenses; R. W. LeVan, $1,560; Patricia Bailey, $1,560; William Crump, $1,559.20 ($39.30 in expenses); Joe Kerr, $1,499.80 ($59.80 expenses); and Jerry Chomyn, $1,480. Councillors last year were paid a basic honorarium of $1,200 plus $40 per occasion for special meetings, while the mayor received $1,900 plus the special meeting pay. Honoraria have been raised by five per cent this year, in keeping with the provincial restraint guidelines. charge of $35 on anyone taking the wood from a tree felled by the town in its tree - cutting program. It would still be very cheap wood and at the sametime would provide,. fpr the 'tree's replacement. Councillor William Crump said he agreed "100 per cent" with the suggestion, and planned to bring it up at a meeting of the works committee. Anyone wanting a tree planted should contact the town clerk's office to get on the list. All trees are planted only on town property along the street allowances. Not that old yet A report last week on a surprise birthday party for Morrison Sharpin should have stated thatMr. Sharpin is 90 years old, not 92. Wfl:ham non-pr�fit housing praj�ct suffers new setback A Wingham group has suffered what could prove to be a major setback in its efforts to developadditional low -rental housing for senior citizens here. The Wingham Non -Profit Sam pondi wins prize at Durham art show A Wingham artist, Sam Bondi, is gaining recognition for his work. Last week he won second prize in the oil and acrylic painting category at an art show held at the Durham Art Gallery. Mr. Bondi, who is entirely self-taught, said he is pleased and somewhat surprised to win At Durham because there were close to 200 entries in the show. He has showed his work in competitions at Owen Sound, but this is the first time he has entered the Durham show. The prize-winning painting is of a scene from the Maitland River. Mr. Bondi said he takes a 35mm snapshot and then projects it onto'a screen ;to paint from. Many artist m$$ooy this method n ,elre 1 • :o, because a scene ean change daily because of light. Mr. Bondi does a variety of painting, from•nature scenes to still lifes to portraits, which are his favorites. He has a collection of portraits of Elvis Presley which he is quite proud. of, as well as one of Marilyn Monroe. And he likes to use oils because he finds they are easier to work with. He said he intends to keep painting and hopes to start selling some of his work. His three children are getting into the act too, under their father's direction, and have painted and made hand crafts. 1.�• . , /% ,v,.,</qA%(/,Hitt//! .. q. LESLEY TENPAS, a student at the F. E.0Madill Secon- dary School, was first in the junior high sdhool speakoff at the Clinton Legion March 5. Lesley spoke on "Worry" to beat out four other competitors and she went on to speak at the Midwestern speakoff where she was runner-up. Housing Corporation, a group of five residents set up bytown council last Mayand since then legally in- corporated, has spent the past year working on plans for the new apartment complex. However a recent letter from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has cast doubt on whether the project will go ahead. Man satisfactory following accident A Wingham man is listed in satisfactory condition at the Wingham and District Hospital with a broken collarbone as the result of an accident at Belmore last week. Arnold Taylor was injured in a single -vehicle accident last Thursday night when his car left the road on a curve, at the entrance to the village. Provincial police at the Walkerton detachment reported Mr. Taylor was southbound on County Road 12 at 11:15 p.m. when he lost control on the curve, entered the west ditch, struck a pole and ended up in the parking lot of the Delmore mill. He was taken by am- bulance to the Wingham hospital for treatment and observation. Blyth bank moving into new premises The Canadian Imperial Bank .of Commerce will be moving into its new premises at the corner of Queen and Drummond streets this weekend, to be ready for business on Monday, March 21. An official opening and open house are scheduled for Saturday, March 26, at 2 p.m. to give customers an opportunity to see the new facility. Designed to blend into the existing village environ- ment, the new building pro- vides a total area of 3,400 square feet, triple the size of the old premises which are located one block south. The bank reported it has invested over $300,000 into the new premises which will serve individual and agricultural banking needs in the area. Nith Valley Construction of New Hamburg was the general contractor and the building was designed by Norbert J. Schuller Archi- tects of London. The letter, which cites "severe curtailment of budget allocation" for the ministry's social housing program and asks for a review of the list of potential tenants for the building, came as a shock to the corporation's directors, Chairman Andrew McBride told town council last week. "Essentially, we have been bounced back to where we were before the 1981 housing statement was prepared, and are faced with the task of finding additional subsidizable applicants without having either the money or the in-house ex- pertise to do so." He said he had received a verbal commitment that the ministry would provide either the money or the expertise to carry out the review: but so far has received nothing in writing, UP, UP IN THE AIR—Carolyn Pike and Teddy Craig displayed their jumping abilities Monday afternoon at the Wingham Public School when Mrs. Robertson took her Kindergarten class to the gymnasium to try out the gymnastic equipment like the parallel bars, the box horse and the ropes. Firemen respond to three minor calls Firefighters from the Wingham department were called out to three minor occurences last week, none of which resulted in any damage. Last Saturday at ap- proximately 7:30 p.m., Chief Dave Crothers said the department responded to a call from Paul Moody on Shuter Street in Wingham to put out a chimney fire caused by a fireplace. The fire was easily extinguished and no damage resulted. The firemen were called out to fight another chimney fire last Friday at the Larry Cerson home on Minnie Street. Chief Crothers said the call came in at ap- proximately 4:45 p.m. and the fire was caused by a wood stove. No damage was reported. Last Thursday evening at around 11:30 p.m. the department went out to fight a fire at an auto accident near Belmore, but when firefighters arrived on the scene, they learned they were not needed and turned around and returned to Wingham, said the chief. Midget tournament kicks off this Friday Wingham's 19th annual Midget hockey tournament gets underway this Friday for two weekends of hockey action, featuring 32 teams in four divisions. The opening game in the tourney is scheduled for Friday at 5 p.m. when Blyth will face off against Mildmay in the D category, followed by the official opening ceremonies. Wingham's own Lions Midgets take to the ice at 7 p.m. Friday against Arthur in the C division opener. The local boys will be out to hold onto the C championship which they won at the tournament 1aSt year by defeating Forest. Also on Friday night, Elora will meet Mitchelfat 8:45 p.m. in further C action. Most of the remainder of the weekend will he dedicated to AAA hockey, leading up to the division championship and consolation games Sunday afternoon and evening. Waterloo will be returning this year to defend the AAA trophy for the fifth year in a row. The triple A co solation was won by Owen Sound last year. Other teams entered in the AAA category are: Windsor, Oakridge, St. Catharines, London, Riverside and Stratford. ' Next weekend, March 24-27, B, C, and D hockey resumes. Merriton is returning to defend the B championship, but Hanover, last year's B consolation winner, will not be returning. Other B teams entered in the tourney are Goderich, Listowel, St. Marys, Bradford, Unionville, Fergus and St. Benedict. Wingham will defend the C championship trophy from last year and the 1982 con- solation winner, Seaforth, also will return. Other C teams entered are: Arthur, Tavistock, Stayner, Ridgetown, Elora and Mitchell. Ripley, the D champs from last year, will return- 'to defend their position, as will Teeswater, the D consolation winners from last year's tournament. Other D teams participating will be Mildmay, Blyth, Howick, Lucknow, Zurich and Brussels. and he has some doubts that it will. Notice of the new requirements came just as the non-profit housing corporation was preparing to submit its preliminary feasibility study on the apartment project to the ministry for approval, he said. "We were just ap- proaching the first hurdle, and already they've made it higher." He noted that it is entirely within the ministry's right to ask for confirmation of the need for more apartments, "but we didn't expect it so early in the process." Andy MacLaren of MacLaren Plansearch Inc., the planner hired to help with the initial project ap- plication stage of the development procedure, also attended the meeting, and told council he thinks the ministry wants to see justification of a higher level of need to make sure the existing units, operated by the Huron County Housing Authority, will continue to do well. He pointed out that, with the budget cuts, there is stiff competition for the money available, and the ministry only wants to commit dollars to those projects which are in a good position to go ahead. He also recommended the �`'tf Kvn,:sits 11 l - go ahead and, send in the preliminary feasibility study, noting that, "If you have a document in front of them, having met all the criteria,you're in a stronger position to ask for money for an additional housing survey." Councillor James A. Currie, one of the council members involved in meetings with the ministry that led to setting up the local housing corporation, said it was made clear at the time that approval of this project was conditional on its continuing viability. "We knew we were on the thin edge of the wedge as for viability." However he said there seems to have been a switch in theministry's priorities since the initial approval was given. Now it is looking for a higher proportion of seniors requiring subsidized rent, while before it was content with a mix of sub- sidized and market -value tenants. "The problem is still viability and how to prove it," he noted, adding that if the ministry is no longer satisfied with the Woods Gordon report prepared two years ago it should provide the funding for another one. Councillor William Crump asked for reassurance that, if the project goes ahead, it will be at no cost to the town except for some ad- ministrative costs. Mr. MacLaren responded that, according to the ministry, the only case in which a municipality could incur a cost would be in short-term financing of a project, which it should get back within seven months. Any operating shortfall would be picked up jointly by the provincial and federal governments. Council agreed to accept the corporation's progress report and recom- mendations, which will now go to the ministry. "Let's throw the ball in the ministry court and see what they're going to do with it," Mr. Currie suggested, at the same time commending Mr. McBride on the quality of the report. In addition to . Mr. McBride, the non-profit housing corporation is made up of Mrilyn Wood, secre- tary -treasurer; Patricia Bailey, Jack Gillespie and Jack Kopas.