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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-11-08, Page 1120th Yeaz • Whole No. 5826 SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY', NOVEMBER 8, 1979 -- 24; PAGES 113 a yoaiadvsoce 5k• O el#ttpC • BYWILM4 OKE A part of the $177,293 debt against the Vanastra Recreation Centre was, lifted from the shoulders of the Vanastra ratepayers by Tuckersmith Township council Tuesday night but the'larger portion of that debt was left for Vanastra to pay off. Tuckersmith council topic over, by an unanimous vote, the operating deficit cif $58,293;54 and: this will be paid by all the residents of • the . township from the township's general funds. But council voted 4 to 1 against taking over the debenture debt of $119,000 in a recorded vote asked by Councillor Wiliam Brown. Reeve Ervin Sillery was the only one to vote against the motion that this debt remain on Vanastra as agreed (when the recreation centre was built in 1974). Claire Haskett, Vanastra business woman exclaimed, "Same as all along, Vanastra will have to pay for something we did not want." Reeve Sillery explained why he voted as he did, "I was the only one (member of council) to state at the election a year ago that I felt the whole township should be responsible (for. the recreation centre debts) and no one criticized me" He said. ;he respected the judgment of the other members of .council and: he had to accept:. their opinion.. "They don't live at Vanastra," replied ,Mrs, Haskett. ' 3.. Michael Meyer,' the township's auditor from the firm of Riegel, Malcolm and Hagey of Stratford attended the council session .to. explain an audit mistake made by another auditor of the firm in; 1975. He had been called to the :clerk's; office: last week to re-examine the figures since the commence - Ment of the centre. Mr. Meyer said the mistake resulted from; an effort to segregate the capital and. revenue fund deficits. He expl:tYned that the net amount of the 1975 capital financing, in excess of 1975 capital expenditure, was credited to current surplus instead of being. charged against the accumulated capital. deficit of the recreation board, Mr. Meyer pointed out there is no Overall effect :of this: discrepancy on the township books. Rather, the general surplus for 1975: and subsequent years has been overstated: by $68,704 and the Vanastra recreation: board deficit has been overstated' by a: similar amount. Clerk John McLachlan explained that since the error was made in 1975.there has, been, no reason to question the prior figures. untilratepayers objected tp an addition to the Vanastra recreation centre. Lloyd Eisler of Egmondville, ' one of a large number of township residents. who ' attended the meeting to listen to the•. auditor's. explanation and to find out how St. Columban's Hallowe'en. v<. ,P." .5. Alfie can answer the phone . :P. 7 McLaughlins married 50 years .• , . P. 9 Centenaires win , . . . , . .P. 12 council would vote on the 'Vanastra re, creation centre debts, .questioned why auditor's reports are so difficult to ie4 and. why the language changes each year. Mr. Meyer agreed they were difficult to read but - the townshipclerk was, available to answer: questions. He said the language changed' With : the government rules calling for different terms each year. He . said a recreation centre should support ,itself e.ich year and that is why the capital and revenue fund deficits were kept the way they were. Mr. Eisler said he could not find where the council found 'the money to pay off part of the operating deficit and he was told it was a 525,000 grant received last, year. .Harvey Hammond asked that since the mistake was made what happened to the .interest charges. He was told that there were only interest charges: the first year, He said council had charged it up against Vanastra and now you should give 'tt' back --it is lost revenue to Vanastra. Clerk McLachlan,.; said, basically • .there` have been no interest charges and that the township has lost money., Mrs," Haskctt asked "When the place (recreation centre) has been losing money why did you want to make it larger?" Mr. Hammond said, "We would like toget. everything out in the open and start the new year of 1980 with a fresh slate. Vanastra has. more than it wants, more , than it can. support. Now wehave an indoor pool, we (Continued on Page3 ) BY ALICE Gillis Harry Palin was a schoolboy living outside theEn lish' cityof Birkenhead;: g when war was declared in 1914 He remembers the' spirit' of ;adventure that. gripped ; the young men in the area - everybody wanted to go, they thought. • they'd be home in a couple of months.' "Many Instead, Mr. Palin said Mai► just went In Y over and sat in a hole." The worst :Y ears of the- war were 1916. and 1917 Mr, .Palin when the. men M said, were like flies,' Trench w'rfare took a heavy toll, and more and more men were being called up tofill the vacancies in regiments. These menand boys, Mr. Palin said,: weresent, into battle with only two or three months of training g . As the war continued, hesalmost everyhousehold u said in his village had lost someone. Many of .over his schoolmates,a few years, older than himself, never returned front the battle Mr. Palin.'a farmer's son, joined the Liverpool Scottish Regiment, an infantry division whose ;uniformwas the kilt;''. after almost the entireregiementwas wiped.nut 'at the infamous battle of Passchendaele;` Hei "ned upwhen s g _.he was 18, but perhaps due to a speech impediment, wain't called up until he was 19.• Bythen,, the war, was int its' closing days, s and the elosest he was to action was when a bomb fell a mile away.. One of Mr, 'Palin's: most vivid memories is of the days after war was declared when rumours ; flew fastand furious that thee. would invade England coming Germans , . England,n g up the! River Mersey: To prevent:this,. thousands of tons of barbed . wire were h Birkenhead -Liverpool area, in the Berke >? m a and sandbags were put up as roadblocks. The'invasion;of course, never happened. Mr. Palin was back in England, working th war a. a m ' 'vhen word cam that e onf r , ti c had ended.' He said the men in the neighbourhood stopped work and went to a nearby pub to celebrate. InAPril,M Pah 1919, � r. Patin and his regiment were sent back to Belgium to assist in the cleanup. operation.' He remembers the streets of Armetiers lined with Pites of rubbish, rubbish that hadonc e been homes and buiness s He said the countryside .in Belgium was "all churned. up" p and the tops had been blown off many of the trees.: As had happened often before in history,, Belgiumbeen � had b en the battle- greyed, the dividingline between the. Allied and German forces. One e ofMr . Pa1insob ��lo s as ader l g up • the guns andammunition used in the war into cartons, for shipment back to Britain. Other members of his regiment hada more difficult taskcoIlectin bodies of soldiers. for burial in Belgian cemeteries. tad ay Patin: said today hethinks perhaps`, only the`ones who were really in the. war ,appreciated Remembrance Day, He remembers by the time he was be ' • over as nd "soldiers dem�bed, the: war Was e were a dime: a dozen." He said beggars were panhandling around the country; all clai intobe ''ol oldi rs who fou ht for s e md g., g their country", so people were sick and tired of soldiers. In 1924, !Mr. Palin emigrated to Canada, farming for many years" in McKillop Township. But the picture of the young, soldier, dressed in kilt and. Glengarries, still stands onthe mantle of his Seaforth. home.' J.R. Spinal THE LIVERPOOL 'SCOTTISH REGIMENT — Harry Palin . (Extreme right) and some 'of his fellow soldiers, posed for this picture in front of an old army hut. The two Tads in the centre were diiscovered'to be only 16 years old, so they were .' transferred to the band. The man in trousers is .one of the regiment's. labour mob._' Saw World' Much of J.R. Spittal's view of World War II was through' the narrow slit in the front of 'one of the Canadian army's five -man artillery tanks. Living and sleeping in a tank for four and a half years"stunted my growth", the ex -soldier said, with a twinkle in his eye. But when war was declared in 1939, J.R. Spittal and the army were hardly strangers to each other. The Seaforth resident saidd he was "born into the army the son of a rofessional soldier. Before emigratingto P Canada, Spittal ittal s ntfour P Imyears serving with the Royal Corps of Signals, Highland Division, Scotland. 51st. When v + war was declared' in 1939, When , Mr. Spittal was a Winghatn bank manager. He said many people couldn't understand why he Y joined the arm when he didn't have to, . but he signed tip with the reserve army of tete. Royal Canadian- Artillery in Vvingham ase a: sergeant, and was`rater promoted to _ Be.,. lieutenant and then captain, when he was . given command of'a troop. Before going overseas, Mr Spittal and p his • men trained at. Camps Borden and Petawa, and Camp Shiloh in Manitoba,' where the army's artillery school . was :located: Mr: Spittal' Said his regiment was the first fully -trained artillerytme gi nt in re Canada: They were eventually attached to the third Canadianrt assault division when they e t e e went overseas' . the division that took. part in the D -'Day landing at Normandy On June 6, 1944, That' `r. Spittal 9 , M Sp a said, "is a da I'll never forget anyway." nYa ." The former captain landed on the beaches with an infantry force. The landing craft on the right as fel n g Was ow to biit s and the craft 25ards to the left was heavily Y y damaged. The:ensuing battle was ".r ough and tough and brood:and thunder," Mr. Spinal said. Militirk etperts had predicted the casualty rate of the combined British• Canadian•Anterican landing force to reach as high as 30 per cent of the soldiers, and although Mr. Spittal doesn't think casual= ties reached that number, he admits` they were heavy, There were 10,000 soldiers Moved to Normandy to . start pushing back the German line, Mr', Spittal said one day Field Marshall Montgomery decided to move the troops, leaving only one Canadian regi- ment as opposition if the Germans had tried to break through h, the Spearhead. I; p The battle on the Normandy beaches was• "a lot of going forward and then back". the former captain recalls and "some of the battles were terrific, it was It wonder anyone survived." ' He landed with the infantry. and waited. until the artillery tanks wer moved ashore, He said his tank was the first vehicle down the train street of a French village, and he remembers the people pouring out of basements. andruined homes, giving the V-sign to the Allied soldiers. The village hid 'been occupied for almost four years by German soldiers. Looking. back, Mr.. Spittal said he believes the war was a neccessity. As the years pass, "myself and the other chaps. find we're forgetting the horrible things.. and remembering the funny things that happened." he said, Mr, Spittal Was transferred back to. Caned& in January 1944 and spent the last; months of the war ar a, ;uttnery instructor at Camp Shiloh. If he was living through the war years ,again though, the ex=soldier said, "1 think I'd probably make the Sable decision (to' - enlist) for the sante reasons." This year he and Many other former soldiers Will take time' to remember the war years on Remembrance Day. "I' don't mind being reminded of some of my belt friends who didn't come back," Mr. Spittal said. • ��sit;Y�r�_•,p • NOW, WHAT LOOKS GOOD?`—,'Brad and Dwayne Price of Winthropy had a hard time deciding what to pick out of the secret rizes wrapped up in Christmas paper -when . they attended the bazaar at the Walton Cornmunity:hall on Saturday.P Brussels o' � Post Photo) Iigh interest rates blamed for BY ALICE GI B Higher her interest rates are being, blamed for layoffs at Benedix Home Systems Ltd. in Hensall and a slowdown in orders has also resulted in layoffs at Dashwood Industries. General Homes` Systems Ltd. laid off 80. full time employees last week after there was a slowdown in orders for the company's modular homes. The currenthigh interest rates • were blamed for increasing the slowdown in orders.: Dashwood Industries, :Centralia, recently laid off' 105 employees. John Gillespie, an unemployment counsel for at the Exeter Canada Manpower office said despite layoffs at both General Homes and Dashwood Industries, the Situation" still isn't as severe as it; was.:two years ago. ' The layoff at the Hensall, plant is classified as "indefinite", 'which Mr. Gillespie said• means the company is hoping employees. won't be off too long. He said an employee recall is dependent.. on the number : of modular home : orders ':received by the company. • Although the company "slows down 'at, bite' every winter, ' the linettployment counsellor indicated this layoff is unusual. Employees' are from the Exeter-Hensall Clinton-Seaforth area. Thelayoff at Dashwood Industries, which manufactures door' and window frames is "more severe than it has 'been in the past" according to 'Mr, Gillespie. He said the company. isn't making any prediction on when the employees will be • called back, since again it depends on the availability of orders, • The employment counsellor said the layoffs have been partially offset by other industries in the area who are hiring. Ile said firms, are hiring employees in Exeter, Grand Bend and Huron Park. . Mr, Gillespie said there have been layoffs of 15 to 20 employees at four other industries with the jurisdiction of the Exeter Manpower office. Mr. Gillespie said winter also usually bbin s layoffsboththe agriculture - g. in and t construct on industries. BobWaiters manager a m a nag of the Genesco shoe factory in Seaforth,said they weren't anticipating;.any serious layoffs at the plant •.e; Iayoffs in the future, The employees had the first • week in October off and willbe havingnext week. off, : but the manager said they don't, anticipate any further time off. He said the temporary ora la offs were due to P rY Y "a little bit of softness in the industry and also to the fact, the company was having a problem getting, some leather and sole material from suppliers. Christmas depot here With the Christmas season just around the corner, Huron's . Family. and Children's Services are again launching their annual Christmas Bureau appeal, Last year, the cost of this effort to assist over 150 families who were in financial need was 58,316; however, only 56,000 was raised in the public appeal This year, withthe possibility of more families needing' assistance due to layoffs in local industries, the goal set for the campaign is $10,000, There was approximately $392. raised for the campaign in the Seaforth area last year. In addition to financial contributions, depots will be set up in the five main centres in the county. for donations of toys, new and used clothing and other gifts. ' Rev, Robert Roberts, the local co-ordinator of ' the Christmas Bureau project, said tentatively"the Seaforth depot will be in the town hall, and 'clothes and; gifts can be dropped off atthe depot front Dec: 3 to Dec. 7th. Rev. Roberts said, .''People were very kind last year and we hope they'll be as kind this year." Also,,this year the Seaforth Lions Club will be adding their support to the Christmas Bureau project, and will: be placing toy drops drop in some of the lcoal stores. The toys can be new or used, if they're in good shape:, Last year, families in financial need were (Continued on Page ge 31 ' I ' P I� r� ce re o, rt r. u et H all w P �I o e en Seaforth' police reported a "very delict night" on Halloween, There were a few incidences of egg g, g throwin and • water ,, balloons, and Some dead Chickens thrown in the main intersection, but Constable. Dave Dale said there weren't even as many Main Street windows soaped as therein p have been in other years, At 3 a.m,, Nov. 1, two fire hydrants in th'et, town were turned on,• which is a "dan erotis ..g pract t r according to the constable, since it lowers' water pressure in the town which could rest.lt in problems lit fightinga a fire: On Nov. 2, an unknown person Or persons, stole all the bundle# of the Lando* Free Press dropped off in Seaforth and parts of Egniondville between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Goderich also reported the sante type of theft there, The value of the papers ars was approximately '$100. The Seaforth police recovered six of the btttidles in a ditch four miles southeast of town On Nov', Vii'. The theft is believed' to be a Halloween prank and is Y._ still under investigation. On Nov, 2, police invostigatcd a minor rear end Collision on Main Street South, when a car driven by . Robert McClure collided with the rear end of a truck owned by Milton Dietz. Damage !Wit Inkier $34 in. the accident.