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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-11-15, Page 112Mh Year Whole NO. 5.417 BY IP,/11,MA OKE Tuckersmith township council was asked At a ratepayers' meeting Monday night to consider a plebiscite in the township, asking people if they are for or against the proposed quarter of a milhon dollar addition to, Vanastra recreation centre, prior to any cOnstruction. The meeting, called by council to discuss the addition, was well attended. Following about three hours of talk for and against the addition, interrupted at times by shouting and applause, the plebiscite was proposed to end the weeks of debate. There were 44 votes for the plebiscite and 37 against it. Michael Connolly of Kippen, at •the request of council, was chairman for the meeting. Reeve Ervin Sillery outlined the stormy history of the recreation centre from its establishment by council in 1974 to the present. • Diane Durnin, manager of the centre, spoke of the plan to provide a program .of • aquatics and fitness for the mentally and physically handicapped and senior citizens. Sheexplainecl the need to expand the centre to make way for additional areas including showers and dressing teotris that could be used by wheelchair patients. She stated too, ,that the patients came from across the whole country. . ' Clerk Jack McLachlan gave the *financial te outline of the centre and spoke ot the available grants for construction and oper- ating costs. He said of the total cost of $203,056: grants would cover S220,235 leaving S62;802 to be raised, and $31,401 of which had to be raised:locally. Reeve Ervin Sillery, Deputy reeve Robert Bell and councillors Frank FalcOner and Robert Fotheringham supported the add- ition, Councillor William BrOwn said he was "opposed unless it goes county wide." (Loud applause.) Asked why he opposed it, he said taxes are high enough now, (More loud applause). • - Lloyd Eisler of Egniondville asked Reeve Sillery if it was fair to the people of Vanastra only to be responsible for the recreation centre. He also asked if the reeve would be willing for,the debenture debt of 5119,000 and the new addition to be paid by all the residents of the township. Reeve Siliery said as far as he was concerned the whole township should be responsible but his couneil had voted against taking over the debenture debt of 5119,000 and he respected - its decision. He said the township would be responsible for any operating deficits in the future, but he did not anticipate there would be any % The reeve then remarked from whispering at the council table that some of council did not agree :with this. He °said (Contistoed on. Page 3) , . • • . • • . , Retired to. be honoured... VETERAN REMEMBERS — First World War veteran, 'Ned Boswell of . r14 ... . • , _. , , . .- . ,Seaforth drops hs poppy on a memorial wreath laid at the Victoria Park- . f h dur g Sunday orning s !Remembrance Day service. More %' o inner on e nes a cell. in rn 0 -- . . - ' . . - . Photos inside: ' ', - -(Expositor Photo) $04ORTH-* ONTARIO. THURSDAY1, 14.01/041KR 154, 113/9, The Seaforth Chamber of Commerce annual dinner will honour retired businessmen who operated businesses on the town's Main Street for many years. A committee responsible for the event is now researching the names of these businessmen for inscription on certificates which will be presented at the dinner. The annual meeting is being held at the Seaforth Legion next Wednesday night at 6:30. Tickets available from members. Betty Cardno, the organization's president, said two guests speakers have been invited to speak on the Business Improvement Area grants which are avail able to upgrade small-tovvn main streets. , Ministry of Housing in Toronto,•will be one of the guest speakers. The other will be a eeve Goderich businessman who will discuss the ta own Business Impronement project carried out in •A " m es i that t.of • members have been invited to the dinner. since they would be involved in the impletnentation of a business improvement grant if the town decided to apply for the upgrading assistance. Three Huron County towns-Goderich, Exeter and Clinton -have already used the Business Improvement Area program to. improve their downtown areas. ugh interest rates cost C guard Consumers i Huron Count may , against high interest rates through careful. spending but it appears taxpayers won't be able to avoid the record rates. Roy Dunlop, superintendent of education:, for the Huron County board of education. said Tuesday that high interest rates have already cost the board about 560,000 and will probably cost more. * Dunlop said the board is about 560,000 over budget because *of the recent hikes in the interest rate and appears to have little choice but to keep paying the cost. He told the board the methods used to finance the ' board's . operation make bor- rowing a necessity. He said the boad had budgeted ilbout $120,000 to pay interest costs for the. year but that quickly dis- appeared when the rates went up. Dunlop explained the methods used by the board to fund its, operation. He said the board requisitions money from municipalities in the cotinty, but those municipalities don't pay that bill when they receive it. He said the towns and townships 'collect taxes twice :a year and after those taxes are collected sends its portion of the education costs to the board. Until that money is sent , by the municipalities the board of education has to borrow funds to pay its bills.That borrowing is now being done at i 15 percent interest rate. Dunlop pointed out that there is little the board can do to get out of its jam. He said if municipalities pay their bill early the board rewards that effortwith a rebate. He added that most municipalities collect their takes, . invest the board of education's money until it has to be sent to the board and enjoy windfall returns.,• WHAT'S aoltig OH? Mn Uhlet of Walton- Wantlit tQoure whothr ehe Wetted to COMIOU0 MAIN 110 me& after She tfolOti the. photographer , Walton 'LIAO litip0Orliket W�dnesdsy • Longtime Seaforth: Reeve, John Flannery got his knuckletrapped at council Monday night over comments he made on the Seaforth Fire Area • dispute in a recent London Free Press story. Council adopted its police committee's recommendationthat the reeve be removed from the 1980 salary negotiating committee.' Pence chairman Bob Dinsmore said after the meeting the reeve had given the press confidentiat FAB information and council didn t want 4infornjation out before . negotiations are sett)ed. In future, no statements can be issued on behalf of council .to the press without .prior approval of the mayor and committee chairnian or council, read another police committee"motion that council accepted. Council also sent a letter to Fire Martha's officials saying the reeve's views as expressed in the Free Press story 'weren't shared by council. The story said all five municipalities were unhappy with the Fire Marshall's input into the dispute. , Reeve Flannery explained he was con cerned about the number of closed ineetings that had been held over the FAB dispute. "The public got no information on FAB meetings." He declared a conflict of interest and left the room as council started to discuss removing him from its negotiating 'committee. - : Councillor Irwin:Johnston said there had been no need for anyone but the mayor and FAB reps to say anything and that closed meetings had been necessary. The agree- ment was drawn up There was not much point in bringing up this stuff therh" (The article appeared after the No; sides had settled.) . "That pretty well sums up eouncil's feelingson that suhject", said mayor Sohn Sinnamon. The draft agreement has not yet been PUC borrowing, M provincial regulations require, the town gave approval Monday night tb a PUC request to borrow 538,000 in 1980 to purchase a new aerial device for its Climbing work. "You're going to borrow $38,000 at todaY'S interest rates?" councillor .Iieriry (Cntitinued oti Page 3) More cookbooks. Thews a special bonus in this week's paper for regular readers. It's a copy of Our first ehristmas cOokbooki. made possible through the co-operation of hundreds of readers who Shared their families' favour- ite recipes. Something fat everyone who likes to cook Or just 'likes to eat is in its paget« Additional copies of the 60 -page glossy covered cookbook are available at 00 dried' for $1 each. The COOklikok will make a great stocking stuffer Or little extra Christmas gift for friends or relative*, far away Who, aren't ttibteriberS, We'll Mail eoples Of the 060kbook Olt Of town it you onelOte lit 00450 Oran &copy •for postage and handling. ed, council committee , received from the town s lawyers)couneillor Johnston, also .FAB chairman, said, but it should be available soon. Several councillors wanted to have the agreement signed and sealed before the Nov. 28 ratepayers' meeting so details can be made public. The councillor paid tribute to members of the Seaforth fire brigade who helped work out a. compromise settlement and also to clerk Jim Crocker who,he said,"helped a lot to get a final agreemen „ S13 year in advanee Single COPY 34 gents A few properties in town are grossly over assessed and a few under assessed,a survey just conducted to see what changes Seaforth would face if it adopted the province's new equalized assessments a the basis for next years tax levies shows. But the majority of properties in town would see "little or no tax change- Ken Feagan of the provincial assessment office in Goderich told council Monday night, For example, of the 884 residential units in town, 424 would have lower assessments while 464 would have higher. But more than half or 517 would be te-assessed at 20 percent above or below • present assessments. Cirle property though would pay from eight to nine time its present 575 in taxes. He told councillor Henry Mem not to, assume that new houses would be going down and old ones Upin aSsessment. "Not necessarily. Both, could be over -assessed - Location, exisiting assessment have bearing- The roll has been frozen Or 10 years.' Of Seafortift 35 niut1 residential units (more than seven units) taxes on 19 would be (Continued on Page 3) Inside this ifveek HPRCSS plans Clinton addition. : P. 4 Local girl opens health food, store, , P. '7 Kippen W.I. is 30 years old. , .P 8 Local kids among top 4-14'ers. .P. 15 Musicians help Howes ,celebrate: . .P 17 • Seaforth people trta.y be paying S2.70 more to increase sewage rates and giveit to, the onctohneeiterninoendthat Ywaat coststerbilf s s00: nihe use 0 December meeting of council's finance - f commitee. Seafortlfs' sewage lagoon are 540,000 over whatthe•preseot sewer surcharge of S5. per Counci on TV flat rate water bill Is brining in, council agreed with its clerk s recommendation that the surcharge go up to 58.70 or to 145 per cent of the water bilk' Now the extra, money is corning from general taxation, from the mill rate, and the clerk says taxes should go down in direct proportion to the increased revenue. The extra heavy flow through the sewage system due to -leaks is causing some Of the higher costs, clerk Jim Crocker said, and the infiltration study on that is still going on. • Council asked the clerk to preapre a bylaw . . . . n I A muchlarger audie ce than usua has a chance to watch Seaforth council in action as its Monday night meeting appears on TV tonight. A film and sound crew from Mitchell Seaforth Cable TV attended the' shorter thaft usual meeting. John McCarron of Channel 12 says- the entire meeting will be broadcast tonight at 6:30 p.m. and an edited half hour version will be seen later. • Subscribers and purchasers of this week's Huron Expositor are receiving a brintit - a Christmas Cookbook compiled frOtii recipes sent in by many of this area's excellent cooks who graciously shared family favourites. One contributor who has long been famous for her culinary skill is . Mrs, Elizabeth Bechely of Seaforth. People' line up for a chance to buy a Bechely lemon loaf Or casserole at a church bazaar, and recall with relish luncheons and -dinner parties at the Bechely home on Goderith Street Wett. Beth Bechely maintains that good cooks are born, not made, and credits her maternal Pennsylvania Dutch ancestOrt for her own interest in food. "My mother, Alice Maude 'Willis. was a wonderful' took", tvirs. Bechely recant fondly, "and nothing was too much trouble for her, She even candied real violets once, to decorate a wedding cake she had made. She also introduced the first sandwich loaf to Seaforth, getting the idea from her sitter in, Detrdit. It WO iced with cream cheese and decorated with pineapple and cherries.",' Mrs. Bechely began cooking when the was quite yOung, .As her another sewed • most of the clothes for the family of two 'boys and two girls, Beth and her sister took turns preparing dinners and suppers. The first thing she ever baked was muffins; . when she had mastered those, she grid- uated to pies. "My speciality iti those days was ' 'breathed peas Ott tOirit, and 1 serled them quite often", she recounted with an infectious laugh. The only disaster she could tertieniber was the tithe she reacittavUti on the WO 4,- .14,4, —4.43.1..-*.g444-414,4444,44,4&466.44,4441444.1t44.446.:46411441444444,441k1.41a44i14.41646411 Beth Bechely in her. Goderich St. W., kitchen low cholesterol diet, and het voice trailed off as she thought nostalgically of all the good things she could still coOk, but was no longer allowed to eat. Someone Once defined genius as . ari infinite capacity fot .taking pains, By that yardstick, Beth Bechely is a genius. She always planned her Christmas menus Months ahead; the fruit cakes were baked by November 1 in Order to ripen properly; packages of thick SOOttith shortbread were on their way to relatives from Rhode Island to California by the first of December. All Menus and guest lists were written down; 00 000Was ever served the same meal 10.4ce. One lady still remembers with awe being laved timbales at It Beady dinner. (To TO* from a popular cookbook: The souffle iS ethtsidered the prima, donne of the dignify world; the timbale le bet more even.tempered relative.") Tintbalat ate made by dipping a special it00 hit babew• and then into tat. The tInsbniat eon* oit ICOntintted on, Pi* 3) shelf for the main ingredient for a dish of creamed onions, only to discover just before serving time that she had decimated next Spring's tulip supply.. After her !nether's death, Mrs. Bechely moved with her husband and two children back into her father's house, to take dare of Mr, Willis and act as his hostess. 'Your mother will never be dead as long as you are alive" wail an appreciative comment she received from one of her father's reginstr bridge partners when he saw the large plate Of four -layer dub sandwiches and the eye -appealing relish tray Mrs. Bechely had prepared far the men's lunch. 'During those years she was alto hottest to all the relatives who came tOr spend Christmas with the family each year. "Christmas has always meant family, food and fun", Mrs,, Bethdy exchtinted. When asked if She ever found burdensome the task of feeding 13 or 14 extra people for three or fruit days. she Shook her head vigerthiSiy and answered with an entobatie "NO. I love 10 took. If only twastet on this