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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1974-11-14, Page 1Bob Sharen Rollie Grenier Tom Webster Tom MacMillan Housing starts decline, lay off 99 at DIM The substantial reduction in housing starts in Ontario in recent months has, been cited by Dashwood Industries spokesman as the prime reason for the company's layoff of 99 em- ployees, Friday, That reduction in housing starts in turn has been blamed on spiralling interest rates, In explaining the layoffs to, the T-A this week, personnel manager Gerry Kading and manufacturing manager Alan Rankin pointed out that the company had not made a haphazard decision, but ( rather had considered the facts and figures facing them before making the reduction in staff. It's the largest layoff ever industry. However, they indicated that the recent announcement of a $500 grant to first-time home buyers had little effect on the market. handled in the same manner, They both expressed hope that the budget to be presented by Finance Minister John Turner next week would help correct the present situation in the housing experienced by the company, which is Canada,'st largest producer of wood windows. Kading noted that in July of this year, housing starts in Ontario were down 44 percent, and while this improved to only a 20 percent reduction in August, it jumped again to 42 percent in September. "The figures for those three months is the prime reason we're in a layoff position," he em- phasized, All but 13 of the 99 who were told Friday that they were to be laid off, were employed at the firm's head office plant in Cen- tralia, The balance were from Mt. Brydges. However, the two men pointed "A gift of $500 is not much incentive on a $35,000 house," Kading explained, adding that he hoped the finance minister could correct the 'situation in the up- coming budget. out that Dashwood Industries still had 285 people employed, which is only 14 fewer people than at the same time last year, How long will the layoffs be in effect? "No one really knows," Kading stated, but added that the employees released were advised the company could not foresee any change in their position until the first part of the new year, "High interest rates have just stifled the demand for housing, and most of the housing now underway has been "closed in" for finishing during the winter months," he said, indicating it would be some weeks before improved sales could be ex- pected, However, Rankin quickly noted that the sales force has also started taking "winter bookings", a system whereby retailers are encouraged to place their orders now and then store the windows in their own warehouses until they are needed for spring delivery. ""The program was a phenominal success this past year." Rankin said in the in- terview, "and we hope it is just as successful this time", He said the business enjoyed by Dashwood Industries in January of last year was the best in the company's history. There was some pessimism contained in his comment that the first six months of 1975 are "very uncertain", although things are expected to rebound in the last six months, "We're concentrating now on winter bookings and beating the hushes to generate sales," Kading interjected. Most of those affected by the layoff are production people. The two explained that it was no time to reduce the sales force and the firm's promotional work. Office employees are busy with year- end work. Neither could foresee the need for any further layoffs and stated the company had deferred all major capital expenditures until the housing industry rebounds from its present doldrums. "We're very concerned about the people laid off," Kading stated. "It's never happened in this magnitude before and we want to keep in the minds of employees it is a stable company for which to work". They emphasized the company had done things internally to cut costs and protect the jobs of those still on the payroll. Inventories have been reduced and all pur- chases are being carefully scrutinized by management. While orders for windows are still coming in, Rankin stated they were at "a drastically reduced rate". Production has been cut by more than one-third. Many of those involved in the layoff have been with the com- pany for six months or less. When students left after summer employ, some 49 people were hired to replace them while normally the firm does not replace summer help due to the declining fall and winter market, A large number of those unemployed are women. About one-third of the firm's employees are females. The layoff was determined on a seniority basis and the two men said that rehiring would be HEAR ABOUT PENSIONS — The guest speaker at Monday's Remembrance Day banquet at the Exeter Legion was William Allison of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Above, Allison chats with R. E. Pooley, Sylvanus Cann, who celebrated his 88th birthday the next day and Legion president Henry Dyck. T-A photo One Hundred and Second Year EXETER, ONTARIO, NOVEMBER 14, 1974 Price Per Copy 25 Cents Biddulph council given acclamation At the close of nominations for Biddulph township council, clerk Austin Hodgins declared the council elected by acclamation. All former councillors and reeve were unopposed for the upcoming municipal elections. Returned to office we: 'e Reeve Wilson Hodgins, deputy reeve Fred Dobbs and councillors Hubert Dietrich, James Shipley, and Frank Hardy. Electors in the police village of Granton will go to the polls to elect trustees for their village. A slate of five candidates were presented for election with three to be chosen.Nominees are Kenneth Hodgins, Jack Noon, Elsie Dann, Robert Foster and Ron Mills. Two former members try again in GB battle Two present members of council Douglas Martin and John Teevins are not seeking re- election. Returning to fill the two positions on the PUC are Prosper Van Bruaene and Cam Chapman by acclamation. A LA GIRL GUIDES DECORATE — Members of the Exeter Girl Guides par- ticipated in Sunday's Remembrance Day activities. At the cenotaph are Suzanne Patterson 'and Barbara Armstrong. T-A photo Exeter seniors apply for another project Stephen voters face lengthy council ballot for sit& activities 'as arts raid' crafts so local seniors can meet and enjoy these activities at their leisure. At the last meeting of RAP, member Ruth Durand urged fellow members to give more consideration to helping senior citizens plan activities so they could enjoy companionship and some enjoyable hours per- forming various crafts. Murray Neil is president of the Welcome In Club and Charles Smith is the secretary-treasurer. The other signing officer is Art Frayne. Some consideration had been —please turn to page 3 Voters in the township of Stephen will have a real selection when it comes time to cast their ballots on December 2 to fill three positions on council. No less than nine township residents filed their nomination papers before closing time Tuesday afternoon. The only sitting councillor seeking re-election is David McClure. He.will be opposed by eight newcomers. They are Jesse Reed of Centralia, Frank Boyle and John O'Neil of Huron Paris, Jack Jesney and Joe Regier of Crediton, Doug Russell, Shipka An election will be held in the village of Grand Bend for all municipal positions except for that of Public Utilities Com- missioners. Encumbent reeve Robert Sharen is being opposed by John Payne who held the position until August of 1973 when he resigned because of ill health. The battle for the new deputy- reeve post will be between present''couneillor Thomas Webster and Rollie Grenier who was a member of council in the late 1960's. Murray Des Jardins is the only current councillor seeking re- election. He is being opposed by newcomers Harold Green, Bill Baird and Doug Kincaid. No election for Usborne Police villages acclaim trustees Rec office soon ready The only voters in Usborne township going to the polls on December 2 will be separate school supporters. Reeve Lloyd Ferguson an- nounced a week ago he was retiring. The position will be filled for the 1975-76 term by current deputy-reeve Walter McBride. Councillor Bill Morley is moving up to the deputy-reeve spot. Council seats will be filled by encumbents Jack Stewart and Gordon Johns and newcomer Murray Dawson. Most school reps have no opposition Electors in only one area in South Huron are going to the polls, December 2 to choose representatives on the Huron County Board of Education. Five persons have qualified to contest two seats representing the townships of Tuckersmith and Stanley and the town of Seaforth. They are incumbent Marilyn "Molly" Kunder and newcomers Rob Gates, Bob Peck, Dr. Morgan Smith and Harvey Hammond. For the township of Hay and the villages of Hensall and Zurich, Herb Turkheim, editor of the Zurich Citizens News was returned by acclamation. Clarence "King " MacDonald of Exeter and Harry Hayter of Dashwood were also returned by acclamation to represent the town of Exeter and the townships of Stephen and Usborne. Charles Rau will again be the separate school representative on the Huron County Board of Education. For the Huron-Perth separate school board representative for the town of Exeter, the townships of Stephen and Usborne and part of McGillivray two newcomers, Jerry McDonnell of Exeter and Greg Fleming of Mt. Carmel will try for the seat vacated by Jack McCann. Representing the townships of McGillivray and Biddulph and the village of Lucan on the Middlesex Board of Education will be Jim Scott of Biddulph. He replaces Kelly Robinson who was not nominated. Gaining acclamation to the Huron-Perth separate school board for the township of Hay and the villages of Zurich and Hensall is Ted Geoffrey. Week's crash total hits almost $10,000 Trustees for the three police villages in the township of Stephen were named to office at the end of nominations Monday by acclamation. At Dashwood and Centralia, ' the encumbent trustees were returned to their posts. Dash- wood trustees for the next two years are Doug Riddell, George Tieman and Harold Schroeder, At Centralia they are Leonard Wilson, Thomas Tomes and Ken Hodgins, Fred Sims was the only present Crediton trustee coming back for another term. He is being joined by newcomers Ken McCann and Charles Browning Sr. Retiring are Alf Smith and Gord Slaght. Buoyed by the 'enthuSiakin of several senior citizens, Exeter's RAP committee have applied for an $8,235 New Horizons grant to renovate and equip the Exeter Lions Scout Hall for a craft and meeting room. Included in the cost is a rental fee of $50 per month for 18 months for the hall. If approved it would be the second New Horizons grant received by local senior citizens this year. In August, the Exeter Lawn Bowling club and the Men's Euchre Club received $5,000 to make an addition and renovations at the bowling club house to provide year-round activities. That project is now nearing completion. "I'd be surprised if we didn't get at least 75 percent of the grant," rec director Jim McKinlay stated in reference to the latest submission. He said the request for assistance had already cleared the London and Toronto offices and was now in Ottawa for final approval. He said he had been told if the request got that far "we'd be in pretty good shape". The seniors backing the new project have named themselves the "Welcome In Club". That was chosen from a dozen names they submitted and won over such as others as the "Sit and Spit Club" and the "Fun Seekers". If approved, the grant money would be used to insulate the building and purchase materials SEEK INFORMATION Exeter OPP have been asked by the International Red Cross in Switzerland to find a man by the name of Nathias Granzen. He is believed to have been a former resident of the Centralia area and was in his early 80's, Anyone having any information is asked to contact the police. Rec director Jim McKinlay admitted that productivity of his department was at a low ebb due to his involvement with con- struction work on the project. He made that comment after John Stephens questioned if RAP had hired a recreation director to perform such duties. Stephens was told that due to RAP's tight budget, it was the feeling of the resources com- mittee that the work should be done as cheaply as possible without outside assistance except where skilled tradesmen were required. Exeter s new recreation office "is coming along" but none of the members at Monday's meeting of RAP would predict when it would be completed. RAP has rented the office above McKerlie Automotive, across the street from the town hall. Members 'have been un- dertaking the renovation work required. "We still need two good days or nights to finish it," stated resources committee chairman Jack Underwood this week, and Stephen farmers Allan Walper and Ralph Weber. Weber is the only newcomer with any municipal experience. He served several years on the Stephen township public school board. Reeve Joseph Dietrich is retiring and his position is being filled by deputy-reeve Cecil Desjardine by acclamation. Present council member Kenneth Campbell is moving up to take over as deputy-reeve. The other member of the current council Stephen Dundas will not be back due to ill health. Eight seek council posts Boyle ill, but will run Damage amounted to almost $10,000 in area accidents this week and four people sustained injuries. More than half the damage total resulted in a two-vehicle crash Sunday at 4:55 p.m., when a truck operated by Howard L. Clarke, RR 3 Dashwood, and a car driven by Anthony E. Ducharme, London, collided at the intersection of the Crediton Road and concession 8-9 of Stephen. Clarke's vehicle was flipped over onto its roof in the impact and total damage in the accident was listed at ,$5,500 by OPP Constable Don Mason. Both drivers sustained cuts and bruises as did Gail Ducharme, a passenger in the car. The other two injuries resulted from a two-car crash on Highway 83 Sunday at 4:10 p.m., involving vehicles driven by Addileen Morlock, Market St., Exeter, and Bert Deprest, London. They collided half a mile east of the Goshen Line. MacMillan lone acclamation on town council Deputy only one not on Hay ballot Only one position on Hay township council was filled by acclamation at the close of nominations Tuesday afternoon. Present councillor Joseph Miller is moving up as deputy- reeve, Incumbent ' deputy-reeve Jack Titiney will be opposing Reeve Joseph Hoffman for the top spot in the township. The two other current coun- cillors Lloyd Mousseau and Lionel Wilder are seeking re- election. They are being opposed by Tony Bedard and Don Geiger for the three seats. the vacancy loomed and it wasn't until he sat down with MacMillan at Monday's Remembrance Day banquet that he learned the latter While an election has been a certainty in Exeter for over a month, some unusual cir- cumstances arose this week to keep interest in the nominations at a high peak. Until late Tuesday, there was an indication that all but two positions on the Public Utilities Commission would be contested along with the school board representatives who serve Stephen and Usborne along with Exeter. However, former councillor Ross Taylor withdrew his nomination before the closing time Tuesday and this resulted in Tom MacMillan being acclaimed to the post of deputy-reeve. MacMillan had not previously indicated any intention of seeking the position and Taylor had submitted his nomination after it appeared possible there would be no candidate for the deputy- reeve's chair, He said he had been en- couraged to seek the post when Boyle and Hoogenboom will square off for the reeve's chair and MacMillan has been given an acclamation for deputy-reeve, One surprise candidate ap- peared late Tuesday in the race for the six council seats. He is Garnet Hicks, who was defeated two years ago in a contest for the school board. Glenn Northcott will be back for his second attempt to gain a council position, along with three newcomers, Barb Bell, Lossy Fuller and Dave Zyluk, all of whom had previously announced their intentions to seek office, Making up the eight candidates for six seats are incumbents Harold Patterson, Bob Simpson and Ted Wright, R. E. Pooley and Murray Greene have both been returned to the PUC by acclamation, as were the area's two school board representatives, Clarence MacDonald and Harry Hayter. The former is from Exeter and Hotel, lives in Dashwood. So, the election race shapes up with Mayor Jack Delbridge standing for his first election (in that capacity) against Councillor Bruce Shaw. The former has held the top spot for 10 years through acclamations, while Shaw has been on council for four years. had placed his name in nomination. Taylor told the T-A Tuesday afternoon he would withdraw, explaining he wasn't too in- terested in returning to council because he would have to change his plan to spend a great portion of the winter in the south. The other unusual cir- cumstance that arose was over the sudden illness of Reeve Derry Boyle, He was rushed to London hospital Thursday and his can- didacy became a question mark, Councillor Ben Hoogenboom had already filed papers for the reeve's position as previously announced and Taylor said Tuesday he too would seek the Second highest post on council if Boyle was unable to run. However, Boyle indicated he was still in the race and Taylor said he had no intention then of entering the race. His only consideration was to provide some opposition for Hoogen- boom Greene elected district president Murray Greene, local com- missioner of the Exeter Public Utilities Commission, was recently elected as president of District No. 7 of the Ontario Municipal Electric Association, as well' as a director of the western section of the Ontario Municipal Water Association. Both of these organizations assist in formulating policies, as well as guiding the development of electricity and water industry in this area of the province. Four seek seats in Tuckersmith Reeve Elgin Thompson and deputy-reeve Ervin Sillery were returned to office in Tuckersmith township when nominations came to an end Tuesday af- ternoon. Fourpersons will be opposing each other for three seats on council. They are incumbents Cleve Coombs and Bert Bran- derhorst and newcomers Bob Bell and Addison Jutzi, Electors will also vote on four liquor questions on December 2. McGillivray again has one vacancy Nominations will have to be called again in McGillivray Township to fill the one vacant spot in the slate of nominees for council. When nominations closed Tuesday, there were no new candidates and former councillor Bill Allison, had not filed his nomination papers. Returned to office by - ac- clamation are reeve Gerald Wright and councillors Ben Thompson, Jack Dorman and Ellison Whiting, Clerk Bill Amos reported Tuesday that nominations to fill the vacant seat will likely be open starting November 21. The Exeter lady sustained cuts and bruises as did Bette-LOu Deprest, London. Damage was set at $1,350 by Constable Bill Glassford. Three cars were involved—one indirectly— in an accident on Highway 4 south of the Kirkton Road at 7:05 p.m., Monday. The two cars which collided were driven by William N. Walkom, London, and Scott C. McNair, Huron Park. The third car operated by John L. Drury, Ailsa Craig, ended up in the ditch and struck mail boxes owned by Jim Prout Sand Robert Ellering ton when the driver took evasive action to miss the other two vehicles. Total damage was set at $800 by Constable Glassford. On Friday at 8:30 a.m., Con- stable Larry Christiaen in- vestigated a collision on Highway 83 east of the Thames Road Church. A transport driven by Mark Smith, Exeter, was in collisiOn with a truck operated by Ken Ferguson, Hensall, when they were meeting a stopped school bus. Total damage was $1,550. On Thursday, a car driven by John Relouw, Exeter, struck a St. Bernard dog owned by Jake Schroeder, Dashwood, The mishap occurred on Highway 83, west of Dashwood and the animal was killed. Damage to the car was listed at $150 by Constable Bob Whiteford, Two hit and run accidents were ineluded in this week's total. Sunday at 1 :15 a.m., a parked car Owned by John D. McNall, RR 1 Hensall, was hit by an Unknown vehicle while parked in Centralia. Damage was set at $78 —please turn to page 8 ll