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The Times Advocate, 2006-06-07, Page 1HURON W TRACTOR Exeter ww,dior.ne1 HIGH SPEED INTERNET SERVING EXETER & SURROUNDING AREAS For as low as $19.95/mo. (519)236-4333 TIMES—ADVOCATE Exeter, Ontario, Canada Wednesday, June 7, 2006 x.25 (includes GST) Exeter Fair cancelled By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF EXETER — The Exeter Fall Fair has been cancelled. The Exeter Agricultural Society officially made the announcement last week, citing a shortage of volun- teers (see letter to the editor from the Agricultural Society on page 17). Agricultural Society secretary/treasurer Norma Cockwill said there is no possible way the fair can go ahead for 2006, as there simply isn't enough time to prepare. A plea by the Agricultural Society in an April letter to the editor asking for volunteers was met with no response from the public. Cockwill said there are about 20-30 volunteers for the fair, but she said the Agricultural Society needs additional dedicated people to sit on the board and attend meetings. While there should be 24 directors on the Agricultural Society, there are now only 10, Cockwill said, addling there has been a shortage of volunteers for about five years. She said some members of the Agricultural Society are "burnt out" from carrying the load and when some members leave, they aren't replaced. Cockwill says she and the other members of the Agricultural Society are disappointed the fair isn't See 2006 page 2 South Huron District High School held which saw the evening capped with the the students of the year who are Justin (photo/Pat Bolen) its annual Formal Friday night, announcement of the winners of Knee and Artemysia Fragiskatos. Oke runs for mayor By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF SOUTH HURON — Ken Oke is South Huron's first mayoral candi- date for the 2006 municipal elec- tion. Oke has 15 years of munici- pal council expe- rience, the last six as Usborne Ward councillor for South Huron, and the previous nine on the for- mer Usborne Township coup- Ken Oke cil. He's decided to make the run for mayor because he says it's time for a change and the timing is right. Oke has been thinking of the mayor's position for about six years, but with his job in the Middlesex County roads depart- ment, he didn't have the time. Now retired, Oke says he now has the time. See OKE page 2 Exi-Plast's owner considers leaving Huron Park By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF HURON PARK — Frustrated with the province mak- ing it "impossible or extremely difficult" for him to buy his building and expand, the owner of Exi-Plast has admitted he's looking to leave Huron Park. "We're running out of alternatives," Frank Zawalsky told the Times -Advocate last week. As has been reported, the province announced in August 2004 it would begin selling the government- owned industrial side of the former air force base to its industrial tenants. What followed, though, were numerous delays in the process that led to the indus- tries complaining to South Huron council about the lack of success they were having with the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC). When negotiations began in earnest, the ORC forced the Huron Park businesses to sign a gag order, preventing them from speaking pub- licly about the subject. Zawalsky decided last week to speak out. Exi-Plast Custom Moulding has been in Huron Park for 17 years, and upset over how negotiations are going with the ORC, Zawalsky admits he's scouting other locations to move his business to, including Stratford. Reached Monday, the ORC declined to comment on the story, citing the confidentiality agreement between the two sides. Tuesday morning, Huron -Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell's office called the Times -Advocate explaining a statement from ORC would be released that morning, but the statement was not received in time for the T -A's deadline. Exi-Plast needs to buy its building and additional property because it has run out of room in its 14,000 square foot main building and 6,000 square foot ware- house. When negotiations began with ORC, Exi-Plast proposed to buy its building and the property sur- rounding it so it could build a 22,500 square foot new building over top the existing one (once the new build- ing was erected, the shell from the old building would be torn down). The business also proposed a 25,800 square foot warehouse for the site. According to Zawalsky, ORC agreed with Exi-Plast's ideas, but returned with a proposal that allowed no room for the business to expand its building or construct a ware- house. Exi-Plast wanted to buy 4.7 acres, while the province was only prepared to sell the business 3.1 acres. "That was virtually useless to us," Zawalsky said, adding the province's proposal didn't even leave enough room for trucks to get in and out of the build- ing's loading docks. Zawalsky admits in the past Exi-Plast has "skirted away" from taking some business because it simply didn't have the storage room. Exi-Plast sales and marketing manager Marianne Benson said Exi-Plast's proposed new building would have been "beautiful," with a glass front and a pond. See NEGOTIATIONS page 2 Sunrise GARDEN .CENTRE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE 35% OFF ALL SHRUBS f! PERENNIALS $5.00 OFF 10" & 12" HANGING BASKETS OPEN 9—S MON _—FR/_. 9-6 SAT R, SUN 227-1879 $10.00 OFF 16" FIBRE BASKETS LARGE SELECTION OF HANGING BASKETS, PATIO POTS & TREES & SHRUBS Hwy. #4, minutes North of Lucan at Clandeboye (follow the signs)