The Huron Expositor, 1980-11-27, Page 1121st Year
Whole No. 5881
71,n717151,77:77,7r7;.-tt"
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SEAFORTH, • ONTARIO,
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1300 - 32 PAGES'
$16 a year in advance
Single eopy 40,Ceots •
BY VVILMA OKE •
Seaforth has a very worthwhile down-
town area. •
That opinion was voiced
attending the second town 1:i1anning work-
shop Thursday with •H nry Mero chairman,
;
That it must be pres rved and revitalized
by those was agreed_upon_by. all. But how? That4
evoiced the most discussien. impossible to have everyone "getting
Several said many merchants are not eking",
interested in getting together to make things 01errjr Hetherington said it was important
work. It was agreed that it would be'..: that a start be made in one section --"then it
4
1ST DUBLIN BROWNIE PACK—The Brownies have come to Dublin,
and enrolled in the 1st Pack are, back row left, Charlene Brown, leader,
Marcy MacRae, Sandra Claessens, Jennifer Fuller, Marjorie Visscher,
Sherri Elliott, Lee Ann Dow, Sherry Rumford, Bonny Finlayson, leader
Vicki McCreight, middle row, Julie McCarthy, Jennifer Cronin, Andrea
'
Scott, Susan McKellar, Sarah Elliott, Lee Anne McLeod, Natasha Renne,
Colleen Deloyer, front row, Barbara Finlayson, Denise MgAae,
Maryanne Saunders,, DebbluVan Loon, Tanya Vansteelandt, Lisa
Murray, Julie Cronin and Annette Krauskopf. Donya Daynard is absent
from the photo. (Photo by Ellis)
A variety of housing needed here
Seaforth needs a variety of housing for all
incomes, but the way to protect both
neighbourhood character and property
values is to keep the different types in their
own area. That was the conclusion of those
who attended Seaforth's third planning
wcnkshop, on residential and park develop-
ment, Monday night.
The final meeting a summing up. is being
held tonight. Thursday at the town hall at
7:30.
Mobile homes. small one and two
bedroom houses and apartments were all
necessary, the meeting agreed. but as Tom
Schoonderwoerd said "an 800 square fool
house in a special area is okay. That's what
planning is all about".
"A nice mobile home park does good job.
Dropping one in between three or four big
houses that's where the squeak comes in.
-he said later.
At present Seaforth has more than 150
Brucefield, Londesboro
bank branches to close
BY: HERB SHOVELLER
Security problems. at its smaller banking
agencies have led the Bank of Montreal to a
decision to close its branches in Londesboro
and Brucefield. Each will close Dec. 12.
"Well, basically, it's for security reasons,'
explained Tony Van Zion, assistant manager
of the Clinton branch which oversees the two
small banks. "The premises in Londesboro
and Brucefield don't tend themselves to
banking. We have been held up twice in two
years in Londesboro."
Another reasen, according to Mr. Van
Zon, is that the Clinton bank now has more
convenient hours, from 9:00 to 4;30 for its
customers.
The assistant manager explained that
Brucefield and Londesboro accounts are
based iikthe Clinton bank so the closing will
pose nniajor administrative problems.
The Bank of Montreal's occupation of the
site at the Bructfield intersection reaches far
back into the communtiy's history. "We've
been in there (the building) since 1947. and
they've been tenants of our since then."
remembered Ross Scott. a lifetime Bruce -
field resident. "And they were there before
that. but 1 have no idea when they went in
there. It was a long time ago."
Mr. Scott remembers two of the previous
owners of the bank. The first was the
Farmer's Bank, about 60 years ago, which
went broke. They were followed by the
Motson's Bank which preceded the Bank of
Montreal.
Inside this week--
Dianne's
a princess
Dianne Oldfield, 21, of
Tuckersmith, a third year
econornicS' stilt:lent at the
University of Western
Ontario, was thosen Huron
County Dairy Princess at a
ball in Brussels Saturday
night. See story, picture, on
P. 7
A good fair
As usual, Huron County
was well represented at the
59th Annual Royal Winter
Fair which wound up in
Toronto over the weekend.
building lots available said chairman Ken
Oldacre. enough to meet The town's needs
"far into the future at recent rates of
Write to Santa
at the Expositor
Santa Claus won't be coming to Seaforth
to deliver his presents until Christmas Eve.
but the Expositor wants to give Santa some
hints beforehand on what to bring with
him. We've set up a special mail service to
the Ndrth Pole, and we hope area
youngsters will take advantage of it.
Children can write their letters to Santa
in care of the Expositor, and we'll put a big
box in our office to drop them in. They can
also be sent to us through the mail and
we'll forward them to Santa.
Each week from now until Christmas, we
will print as many of the letters as we can,
and we'll include sorrie photos too. if space
and time permit.
Then a few days before Chrhtmas Esc
rolls around, we'll see that all the letters
sent to us are delivered directly to the
North Pole and given to Santa in time for
the big night.
Children, write your letter to Santa care
of the Expositor right away. in your own
handwriting or printing if possible. Be sure
to put your address and telephone number
an the letter so we can make arrangements
for pictures. There's a big. bright red box
waiting for your letters right here at the
Expositor office.
Inside, stories and pictures
of some of the winners. See
pg
Having a home
"Everyone needs to be
needed," is the motto of
Roberta Kloss, of
Brucefield, and she puts it
into practice. In the last five
years the Kloss family has
taken 60 foster children into
their home through the
Family and Children's
Sevices agency in
Goderich. See story P 3A
Need to Organize
I A " n writer Bob Trotter
aoceessed the annual
meeting of the McKillop
, Federation of Agriculture
and stressed that if farmers
hope to protect their
interests it is important to
join organizations And
there's more on the
McKillop meeting. P. 9A
1
growth." From 1971 to 1980 that rate has
been an average of 17 new units con-
structed per year.
BOOM IS OVER
"The baby boomers have bought homes."
cautioned Huron planner Roman D7US.
"Don't expect that rate of growth to
continue unless there's a surge ef industrial
development."
Participants discussed including a policy
to allow group homes in Seaforth's new plan.
something the province is encouraging.
If mentioned in the plan. 'group homes
could be automatically approved. Some at
the meeting favoured keeping the option to
consider individual group home applications
as they come.
Group homes can be for different ages.,
with different social or physical problems.
Mr. Dzus explained. "The community has a
responsibility to look after its handicapped. '
Group homes try to "normalize the lifestyle
of the handicapped." he said.
A ministry of housing spokesman at the
meeting said there's no intent to "ship such
persons into town." and that planning
criteria can make the number of homes
allowed small enough that they an easik he
absorbed.
Please turn to page 1
Wednesday is
seniors' day
In Seaforth, the town with the highest
percentage of senior citizens in the count,
downtown merchants have planned a couple
of speoial Christmas occasions for older
residents.
Next Wednesday. December 1 has been
designated a special Christmas shopping
day for senior citizens. Free transportation
to and from downtown is available. cou-tesy
of Seaforth car dealers and m•iny stores will
offer five percent discounts for seniors who
do their Christmas shopping.
"Shop at home this Christmas" is the
theme of the Seaforth merchants' prOrnotion
and the second feature just for seniors is an
essay contest. Any local person 65 or older is
invited to write about 500 words on "Hoe,
Christmas used to be in Seaforth." The
winner will receive an electric toaster -oven
doanted by Seaforth Reddi-Chef. Entries
should be sent to Piet's Place, Main St.,
Seaforth, By Dec. 15.
Special events, including contests for
school children, choirs and sleigh rides on
Main St., and shopping nights for ladies. for
men and for the kids. will take place
throughout December as part of the Shop at
Home this Christmas theme.
Visa*
lan
will all 'come together."
Roman Dzus, Hdron County planner and
an advisor to the Searditth planning board,
said: "It is necessary, to get a small
determined group to do something."
, Mr. Mero, in his introduction of the
commercial development workshop, outlined
, the importance of the commercial land use,
to ic
place for economic investment, industrial
development, tourism, shopping, business
and a place to live. He said in Seaforth, the
rich architectural hetitage • of Main Street
provides a unique character, which makes
the community more interesting, attractive
and desirable.
SERIOUS THREAT
-stating that to a large extent, the -vitality and— -IVITT Mero said the mdSt serious thrcat-
to the long-term viability of the core area is
the loss 9f trade to outside shopping centres
and other communities,
To prevent the downward spiral of core
area decline and decay, sound planning and
a municipal commitment are required, he
said. He outlined the provincial government
financial assistance programs available to
support municipal downtown revitalization
efforts, because the government recognizes
the importance of the core area. One
program is the establishment of a Business
Improvement Association (BIA), to promote
and imprd;ee- the core area environment and
to make use of provincial grants for
downtown improvement programs.
It was pointed out that the BIA program
being proposed for Seaforth at the preen,t
time is a timely project when the town is
preparing its new official plan. However, the
discussion became heated when the BIA
project was brought tip and it was reported a
Please turn to page 3
viability of the municipality is dependent
- upon the physical and economic health of its
commercial sector. He spoke of the decline
and deterioration of the downtown areas of
numerous municipalities, particularly small
towns such as Seaforth, which are most
vulnerable. He said more than- any other
factor, the source of the problem is the
widespread use of the automobile...the
result has been traffic congestion, inade-
quate parking add inconvenience.
He said these problems gave rise to the
shopping centre,' abundant free parking,
competitive prices, easy access and clusters
of stores- open at convenient hours in an
attractive enclosed climate controlled build-
ing..
Mr. Mero said the physical and economic
condition of the core area is also a reflection
of the community and it creates impressions
about the health. prosperity and progres-
siveness of the community and in this way
influences the way the town is seen as a
mall budget BIA will
be proposed to council
Representatives from about 25 Seaforth
businesses decided Tuesday night to ask
town council to designate a Business
Improvement Area, a new scaled down BIA
that would require majority merchant
approval of its budget.
The original BIA proposal, presented this
fall by a study group. faced defeat because a
petition against it was presented to the town
signed by one third of those in the proposed
BIA who also represented one-third of the
assessment.
Many of the petition's signers were at the
m-eeting. which was called by Tom Papple of
The Tree Trunk. and they agreed to contact
all the signers and clear up thc mis-
understandings about what a BIA can and
can't do.
"This would have gone through if
merchants knew they could vote down the
budget. I wouldn't have signed if I'd known
that," said Ken Roth. Those at the meeting
decided to ask council to include a guarantee
of budget approval in the bylaw setting up
the BIA.
Concensus was that a sr+all BM budget
should be set up strictly for a year's
promotion and no physical or beautification
projects be planned.
"If we stress promotion we as retail
merchants are damn fools if we turn it
down," commented Ray Anstett Henn
Berg of A & H 'TV and Audio satd his
Stratford store is very unhappy. with Ore
assessment it pays to a Stratford merchants'
committee because the merles goes for
beautification rather than promotion •.1
hate to pay S10 for flower pots but I don't
mind paying S100 to promote downtown
Seaforth," he said.
Main street merchant Jim Stewart siad the
old Chamber of Commerce had been
plagued for years by lack of interest,
attendance and volunteer workers. "Would
a BIA be the same? How do you inveigle
people into involvement? I'm all for the BIA
and co-operation but let's start in a much
smaller way," he concluded.
The meeting. attended by about 35
people, named Tom People and Ken Cardno
to make a new presentation to council.
Local man
unhurt as truck
hits CN train
Melvin Chester Neil , 41. of Seaforth.
escaped injury Tuesday afternoon when the
cement truck he was driving slid into a
collision with a CN freight train in Goderich
Township. The unprotected railway crossing
was at Con. 3 and 4 of the township. abeut
fie kilometres north of Goderich.
The accident, which occurred at about
145 p.m.. resulted in S20.060 damage to the
front of the truck. owned by Huron Concrete
Supplies Ltd.. hut there were only minor
damages to the train's engine. Goderich
OPP are still investigating the accident
Mr. Neil slowed for the rail crossing,
attempting to stop. but slid into the side of
the train.
' NINE YEARS THE BEST—For the ninth consecutive year, Russell
Bolton of Winthrop won the world's championship for hay at the Royal
Winter Fair in Toronto. How does he do it? See the story on page 7:
(Photo by Shoveller)
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