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The Huron Expositor, 1976-04-29, Page 1•••••••••• t• 1 .:•:yr•• • • 1. • P.:0, 00 IritY. In:AdY4n.CP • Singlecopy 25.. cents • • • •• SEAFORTH , ONTARIO, THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1976 — 20 PAGES 'Truck .smcishes into s~ - damage estimqte :$75;0 • trapped in a pocket somewhere. there was a potential danger, he said. "There could have been real problem had not the gas been escaping somewhere ...,I assume it was," Mr. Mifflin told the Expositor. . Occupants of building near the Pricegard store complained of gas odour Tuesday morning. Driver of the eastbound transport 'truck, Emmerson Edward , 62, of Clinton is still in fair condition at Seaforth Community Hospital. Constable Lauzon who with Leo Medd of Egmottdville was first at the scene 'said they "heard a .great big bang and saw a cloud of dust". The men broke a window of the badly smashed cab in order to get Mr. Edward out. Witnesses told Seaforth police that after the transport was in' .collision with a pickup, travelli ng, north on Main Street, it went through the Pricegard wall, Occupants of the pickup, Catherine Poland, Seaforth 'and Marlene Miller, R.R.4, Seaforth were taken to hospital oy ambulance and released Tuesday afternoon,' The pickup ended up against the same Pricegard wall, several yards West of the truck. Much of the back half' of the Pricegard store was destroyed' with debris and stock scattered around. A representative of One insurance company estimated total accident damages at $60,000- to $75,000. Boyes Transport put damage to their truck at $25,000. Union Gas ' (Continued on Page 10) A STORE FULL OF TRUCK — Seaforth police constable Ron Lauzon was in charge at, tile scene Tuesday at 2 a.m. when a transport truck, loaded with salt was in collision with a pickup truck and smashed into the Pricegard store at Main and Goderich Staets. Truck driver Emmerson Edward of Clinton remains in fair condition at Seaforth Community Hospital. The cab of the truck was extensively damaged and witnesses said Mr. Edward was lucky to get out alive. Seaforth firemen, and a number of volunteers worked all night to make sure there was no danger of 'fire or of the building collapsing. (Staff Photo) Potential tragedy on Seaforth's ;,,„Main Street was avoided after a qtransport, truck loaded `with salt ,fin; a pickup collided and the 0:q0n s port went through a brick into the Pricegard store about 2 a.m. Tuesday. 'Firemen and volunteers worked scone all night ' because ..:•,Ccnistafile Ron Lauzpn, acting police , chief • while Chief John Cairns is on holidays, said there was fear of fire and an explosion because of quantities of diesel fuel spilled around the truck. Fire Chief Don Hulley said there was 4rnoke coming from the, cab. -Occupants of the, apartment above the building, owned by John Jew were evacuated until police could be sure there was no danger of it collapsing. As well a gas service line to the, building was broken by the impact, along with two chimneys and gas was not shtlf off until about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. Al Mifflin, area supervisor for Union Gas in London said his company. wasn't notified of the damaged line until late in the afternoon, after it had already been shut off. If the escaping gas had been Huron County board Whole NO% 5645 117th Year 0/0 chool taxes up 2$ The tdx rate for school pur- poses in the County 'of Huron for the year 197'6 will be, increased by 28..7 per cent as the result of the ' budget approved by Board of tenifee'r'W'edriesday tnight: • The total budget for the year was .approved at $18,428,354. • This is an increase of $2,330,150 from the actual expenditures in • 1975. It amounts to 14.47 percent. In the last two months. the Board supporting the Ontario g.overnmene s request for restraint in spending slashed expected expenditures drastically in three areas, 4 -The cost of 'etticitioli'vfxee-e- was' reduced by 31 per cent, operating expenses were down by '22 per cent and non-operating costs were slashed by 13 per cent. About 50 members of councils from Huron municipalities" attended the budget' approval meeting and participated in a question and answer period. • Board chairman Herb Turk- heirn, in opening the budget —discussion, said. "We have done • .-- our utmost to pare our-budget to the bare bones and to cut any more would be irresponsible." He continued, "I would emphasize that the cutbacks we have effected will not harm the education of our young people. Drastic as it may seem, we feel that the co-operation of school staffs, students, parents, munici- palities and the Board will continue to providea sound educational system a which we can all be proud." Turkheim emphasized that close to 80 per cent of the school budget was already, committed • when the Bbard received notice of the decrease in suPport from the provincial government. Turkheim continued, "When we were advised that the rate of support would he reduced to 60 percent and 54 percent at the elementary and secondary school, levels, 'respectively, we were already faced with salary contracts that had been • nego- tiated. eight months, previously and tenders for school supplies had been called." ' In 1975, government support,.. was 62 percent in both the elementary and secondary school panels. - The Board chairman continued, "We, as a Board believe that restraints are necessary if our economy is to be saved but are concerned that the lead time given _to us by the government was a minus quantity." • Chairman of the budget COOLING 'OFF THE TRUCK — Shortly after'a two truck accident /it Seaforth's Main corner about 2 a.m. Tuesday, Seaforth firemen were on hand' fo prevent the possibility of an explosion and !ire. After the pickup in the photo collided with the transport truck the'trap, sport went throughthe north wall of the Pricegard 8-tore and the pickup came-10 rest against the same wall, just west of the transport. ,(Staff Photo) committee, ho—Elliott of Byth said that provincial grants Will account for 71 percent of revenue • for the board compared with 75 Ape, •in 1975. continued, "The reduct- ion in level of assistance will cost the board close to $860,000." The budget committee recom- mended and the Board approval the „transfer of an existing work- ing fund reserve fund of $200,000 to be used to reduce the requisi- tion from municipalities.. At the.same meeting the Board . agreed to make application to the Ontario Ministry of Education for permission to postpone— the second phase of construction at the. Exeter Public School to the 1977 budget year. The Ministry had authorized .the expenditure of $2*,710 for alterations and addition' of an auditorium at the Exeter school. The budget• shows no plans for capital projects. In 1975, $186,658 was spent in this category. Trustee Cayley Hill of Goderich asked why debt charges and loan interest had increased fly more than $161,000 and was told this is the first year for repayment of a $750.000 debenture debt at (Continued on Page 7) Seaforth taxes up for sure town's. 1975 annual report to figure equalized assessment and other amounts that are needed for the budget, and the annual report hasn't been printed' by account- ants'Clarkson and Gordon yet. If he gets the figures within a, week,. he may be able to have the budget ready but it'll be "a pretty tight squeeze," the clerk said. Wage settlements with all the town employees' haven't been made yet for 1976 .either, clerk Franklin said. Separate schools cost 13.4% more Police talks to conciliation Seaforth's share of the 1976 Huron County Board of Education budget has increased from $97,512 last year to $126,055. Local officials got the news when they, along with reps from all Huron's municipalities, attended a special budget meeting of the board last Wednesday in Clinton. 'Reeve John Flannery, deputy reeve. Bill Dale 'and clerk Bob Franklin represented Seaforth. Clerk Franklin said Seaforth's share had increased by more than 28 per cent. Council's finance chairman, councillor Jim Crocker said that he hoped to have the town's budget ready for the May 10 council meeting, now that the education leg figures are available. He agreed that the increased school taxes would up Seaforth taxes. Clerk Franklin said that he needs some figures from the constables and "we said we had no more to give. That's when they asked for a conciliator," The police and the committee don't agree on what the wage and price controls mean, he said. "And I understand this happening around the province." All the conciliator can do is to try and get the two parties closer tpgether. "They can't order anything," If conciliation should fail, the police could go to arbitration, councillor Ellis said. of Education had encouraged county boards of education in the name of equality of education in directions which necessitated extra 'transportation and which resulted in high transportation expenditures on the part of county boards He said now this year the cut back in the transpor- (Continued on. Page 7j A conciliator, requested by Seaforth policemen A will ' meet with them and Seaforth Council's police commIttee, probably on May 18. ThVconciliator will be from the provincial Solicitor- General's department, police committee chairman Wayne Ellis said. • "-We haven't even talked for six weeks", councillor Ellis said when asked about 1976 salary negotiations with the town's three policemen. He said the town's last offer wasn't acceptable to the --TDCKERSM-t-TH BARN BURNS — Once fire got started' at Harry. Arts' barn at Seaforth, the building went very quicklyi.;,..gxpositor photographer Dave Robb; took these two photos of the fire only minutes apart. Seaforth firemen were unable to save the barn. Mr. Arts said loss including a new plough might amount to about $15,000, • (Staff Photo) VANDALS SMASH SDHS WINDOWS Police are , still investigating an incident early Friday morning at SDHS when a number of windows were smashed. (By Wilma Oke) Huron Perth Separate School supporters face an expenditure increase of 13,4 percent over 1975 as a result of a budget passed by the Huron-Perth County Roman Catholic Separ'ate _School Board Monday night, The -I976 budget of $3,910,340 means an increase of $464,089 or. 13.4 per cent over the 1975 expenditure. "Since we started working on the budget three weeks ago we have decreased the mill rate by 1.94 mills over what we had originally expected," Stratford trustee, Ronald Marcy, a member of the finance committee pointed out. He said salaries and fringe benefits account for 95.74 per cent of the increase and 68.72 per cent of the total budget for 1976. Mr. Marcy said a breakdown of expenditureS reveals increases of 19,97 per cent in instruction, 3 . 7 per cent in plant operation and maintenance,. 14.74 per cent in 'transportation; while capital expenditure has been decreased by 52.21 pei Cent, This year' the transportation grant has been reduced by 8 per cent which fey mean reductions in• transportation in September, Mr. Marty warned. He deplored the fact that in 1969 the Ministry -SDHS principal Bruce Shaw said damages amoynt, to $1500 to $2000. The vandals didn't get into the' school. ($taff Photo)