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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-05-08, Page 1BALLOONS FROM USA — The farm of Gerald Prout in Usborne township was invaded by balloons from Detroit, Michigan,.$aturday afternoon. A card to be returned to the sender accompanied each balloon. Checking the balloons are Rob Smith and Greg Prout. The position of vice-principal at two South Huron elementary I schools will not be filled for the 1975-76 school term according to a decision made by, the Huron County Board of Education Monday afternoon. Acting on the recommendation of director of education John Cochrane, the board agreed to leave the vice-principal posts at Stephen Central and Usborne Central open for at least one year. Larry Black, currently vice- principal at Usborne Central will be moving to a similar position at Exeter public school in the fall to replace Gary Jewitt who will be taking over as acting principal at Brookside public school. The present Stephen vice- principal Mrs, Sharon Soldan has submitted her resignation ef- fective September 1, 1975. In making the recommendation against replacements director John Cochrane said board policy did not permit appointment of vice-principals in schools having an adjusted September enrolment of less than 300 pupils. The projected September • Five tickets not enough Police Chief Ted Day agreed with a suggestion this week by Reeve Derry Boyle that five' parking tickets in one month was not very many in view of the number of cars which appear to be parked longer than two hours on Main St. "I've already spoken to them (the local constables) about it," Chief Day said. He noted he had also discussed the matter with police committee chairman Harold Patterson and indicated the officers would be spending more time in enforcing the parking regulations than they did in April. The Chief also outlined some of his plans for Police Week and asked council Members to assist where possible. His report forApril included the following statistics: Twelve accidents with damage of $4,998, 45 charges and 19 warnings under the highway Traffic Act. 11 investigations and seven charges under the Liquor Control .Act, two places of business found insecure, nine animal complaints received, one incident of indecent exposure, two fraud investigations, three impaired drivers charged, four thefts investigated with a total loot of $142, three mischief in- cidents, one break and enter, one stolen car recovered, 2,695 miles driven in the cruisers, Council salaries hike 20 percent Following the guidelines used for their employees, members of Exeter council granted them- selves 20 percent pay increases this week. Total cost to the ratepayers for the services of their elected of- ficials will be $11,400 in the current year. For a time, that appeared to be the only information that would be released on the pay increases, because .a motion presented gave only the total figure to be ap- proved for salaries. However, no one would second the motion. Reeve Derry Boyle then said he would make an "open and not camouflaged motion" calling for the Mayor to receive $1,800 per annum and all members of council to receive $1,200. The previous figures were $1,500 and $1,000. In supporting the increases, Councillor Ted Wright noted the job on council was taking more time and the new salaries were justified. He also explained that annual isierease8 were better. than falling into trap of the federal MPs who liound they had to make an ex- :esSive increase at one time because they had not taken an- nual increases, A RUMMAGE SALE PURCHASE — One of the interesting items listed on Saturday's rummage sale spon- sored by the Huron Park Brownies pack was a guinea pig. Admiring the small animal are Peter Jackson, Paula Jackson, Freida Van Fleet and Laurie Robichaud. T-A photo 'coking Authoritrso vests- purchase of two properties • SHINGLING LIONS — Members of the Exeter Lions club took to the roof of the Exeter Scout House Saturday and were able to complete the reshingling program, Renovations to the building to be used by senior citizens was made possible by a government grant and the Lions supplied the manpower, An:Mg the Lions on the roof are Jim Pirtder, Lorry Snider, gob Denney, Ross Dobson, Doug Knowles, Peter Ray- mond, Jock Malone, Jack Puller, Max Dawson, John Norris, Dale moot, Ned Ryan and Pete Mason, T-A photo. One Hundred and Second Year EXETER, ONTARIO, MAY 8, 1975 Price Per Copy 25 Cents Speaker cites govt `fiscal irresponsibility' A majority of taxpayers in the township of Stephen will be fac- ing a whopping 26.17 mills in- crease when their 1975 tax notices arrive. The township budget approved Tuesday night shows a total of expected expenditures of $922,- 086. The 1975 budget is up about $24,000 over last year. Clerk Wilmer Wein indicated about $100,000 of last year's money was spent on the new Heist bridge. The increase of 26,17 mills in the farm and residential rate for those persons supporting public schools brings the total levy, to , 99,82 mills. In dollars and cents this would mean that on a farm with an average assessment of $6,000, taxes this year would be $598.92; an increase of $157,02 or 41,1 per- cent from a year ago, The increase for farm and residential separate school sup- porters will be 20.08 mills. This increase on a similar $6,00Q assessment would be $120.48. The general residential rates also apply to residents at Huron Park, Clerk Wein indicated the average house assessment at Huron Park was $1,800, making an increase of about $47 for public school supporters and $36 for those paying school taxes to the Huron-Perth separate school board. The 26.17 mill increase is made adjusted enrolment for Stephen and Usborne Central schools is 305 and 307, respectively. Cochrane continued, '"In view of the fact these schools are both in declining enrolment situations, I hesitate to appoint vice- principals for a year and then have to demote them or carry them as surplus to requirement." Usborne principal Bill Linfield, at the meeting as an observer said he would require an in- termediate teacher to replace his . vice-principal. Approve Theatre Arts Theatre Arts will be introduced to South Huron District High School at the grade 13 level in September, 1975. It is understood that if the proposed course of study is ap- proved by the Ministry of Education it will qualify for a grade 13 credit. Otherwise, it will be offered as an interest course only. The theatre arts program was outlined by Mrs. Pat Quigley of the South Huron staff. To invite quotations After considerable discussion and amendments to an original motion the board agreed to use the method of inviting com- petitive quotations for any maintenance projects. The subject was first brought up in July of 1974 when plant superintendent R. McVean said fewer than ever tradesmen and contractors were interested in stibraittitig,:leifdet's' fdr the work' specified in the board's current maintenance project requirements. McVean said he felt it would be increasingly difficult to have essential repairs guaranteed under the present system of base bid tendering. In a Monday recommendation that quotations be invited, superintendent of business af- fairs, R. B. Dunlop said, "It is our opinion that after six years of business we have developed a fairly good knowledge of the integrity and skills of a fair,cross- section of the county's tradesmen and contractors." His brief also suggested that such quotations be priced either on a firm price or a time and Material basis. In supporting, Dunlop's suggestions, director Cochrarie said, "Time is a problem with public tendering." Vice-chairman Herb Turkheim suggested that with a quotations system for established firms any new contracting firms would not be getting a fair chance. Exeter.mayor gets promotion During Monday's regular meeting of the Huron County Board of. Education, director John Cochrane announced that Bruce Shaw 'has been named principal at Seaforth District High School. Shaw who has served as vice- principal at the Seaforth school for two years replaces the retiring L. Plumsteel. The principal's position has been held by Mr. Plumsteel for the past 27 years. up df 19,3 mills in the general township rate; 6,1 mills for the public schools; .38 mills for the County of Huron and .39 mills for secondary schools. The difference of 6.09 mills between the public and separate school supporters is because the Huron Board of Education rate went up 6.1 mills and the Huron- Perth separate school board levy rose only ,1 mills, The tax increase varies for the three police villages' in the township. Crediton residential ratepayers face only a 1.27 mill increase because of a large debenture for the new fire hall and fire fighting equipment was completed last year, The Crediton levy for the past seven years was much higher , than other areas because of the fire charges, The mill rate increase in Dashwood will be 9.59 mills and The Exeter Parking Authority made their first report to council this week, with most of their recommendations being ac- cepted. The purchase of two properties recommended in the report were turned over to the property committee for further in- vestigation. A report on the costs involved in acquiring those properties is to be made at the next council meeting for possible inclusion in this year's budget. Two of the recommendations in the report submitted by Bill Batten, Jim Hennessey and Bob Fletcher actually curtail parking in two areas, One is on Anne St. in the vicinity of Tuckey Beverages to allow large transports to more easily unload and the other is on Sanders St. East between Main and Andrew. The Authority recommended that parking be eliminated en- tirely on' the south side of the latter block to ease the congestion and traffic hazards associated with the new post office. By eliminating parking and stopping on the south side, the Authority suggested this would provide more room for school buses and traffic and not en- danger young bike riders who use this Street at high traffic periods, A large portion of the street is already prohibited for parking and it was noted' that by ex- tending this the entire length, the problem of erecting coherent in Centralia'the rise will be 15.25 mills, Clerk Wein said the small .38 mill hike for the County of Huron came as the result of over levies of some $22,000 over the past two years. A report from the County a few weeks ago indicated the in- crease would be about eight mills. Users of the new water system in the Grand Bend area will be charged 3,41 mills for residential use and commercial customers will be charged 4.01 mills. Accept tenders Tenders were accepted for three municipal drains in Stephen. Hodgins and Hayter were awarded the contracts for the Dundas and the Baker-Ratz drains, The Parkhill firm will receive $4,927 to complete the Dundas drain and $8,107 for construction signs would be eliminated. One sign is now located at right angles to the traffic "and ob- viously leaves considerable doubt as to which corner is being mentioned" the report explained. In a further effort to solve the parking and traffic problem, the Authority recommended the purchase of some property in the vicinity of the post office for off- street parking. This is one of the purchases being investigated by the property committee. The other purchase is on the west side of Main St. in the core area and the Authority noted this was required to gain better ac- cess to the large parking area A petition` signed by one hun- dred farmers was presented to Usborne township council at a meeting Friday night in Elim- ville. About a dozen and a half Usborne farmers accompanied spdkesman Dick Etherington as he presented the petition. The petition stated that the loss of water, should the town of Exeter use another well in the township, would result in serious losses to farmers. It said that the water was non-returnable to the source, that lowering the water of the Baker-Rata work. Robert Nicholson of Sebringville sub- mitted the lowest of two bids for the Adams drain. The accepted price was $7,650. Land severance applications from Paul Pavkeje, part lot 6, Concession 1 and F. Turnbull and Sons at lot 5, Concession A were approved. Five tile drain loan ap- plications totalling $39,800 were passed. Council will be investigating further a request from Bill Clarke to establish overnight accommoOation for a tourist trailer park in the area of his Greenway general store. Bylaws were passed officially naming three district fire chiefs, Jesse Reid will be the Huron Park chief, Charles Browning Jr. will be in charge of the Crediton department and Emil Becker heads the Dashwood brigade. behind the stores which had already been suggested as a public parking zone by the Exeter Board of Trade. Noting the "legal headache" that may be involved in deter- mining ownership of land in'this area and acquiring deeds, the Authority suggested it may be better to secure verbal agreements from the owners in question to allow the town to clean up the area in general and set out parking places. Council also agreed to have their solicitor check into the ownership of land leading off James St. into the parking area — Please turn to page 3 table would have an adverse effect on crops and that the in- come of livestock farmers would be threatened. It urged Usborne township council to insure that farmers would not be deprived of water necessary to their livelihood. Reeve Walter McBride ad- mitted that Usborne council had given permission for test drilling but now must convince the Ministry of Environment and the Ontario Water Resources Commission that another well for Exeter in Usborne township was not a good idea, "We didn't realize the problems at the time permission was granted," said Deputy-reeve Bill Morley. "We made a mistake and we're simply going to tell the Ministry that we've changed our minds." At the conclusion of the meeting, it was agreed that a letter from council would be sent to the Exeter Public Utilities Commission outlining council's position. Copies will be sent to the Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of AgHculture and to the federal and provincial members for Usborne. Dick Etherington who presented the petition to council, said that MPP Jack Riddell had become involved and asked several related questions on the floor of the Ontario Legislature. He said the Minister of Agriculture Bill Stewart has been informed of the facts and has indicated support for the Usborne Farmer. '"I'he Minister of Agriculture is reported to have termed the situation 'ridiculous'." said Mr, Etherington, Walter McBride, reeve of Usborne, said that MPP Jack Riddell had indicated he was in favour of Exeter acquiring any increase in water needs from the filtration plant in Grand Bend. ""I'hey have a 3,000,000 gallon a day surplus production of water in Grand Bend now," said Mr, Etherington, "I hope the Ministry of Environment will try to use the "The 'super ministries' set up by Davis have only added to the bureaucracy," commented Mr. Bullbrook. "The provincial budget was 1.8 billion dollars the year I was elected and last year the budget was 10 billion. The deficit alone last year was 1.7 billion, almost as much as the entire budget previously." He pointed out that in three years there had been a 38 percent increase in the cost of education while the cost of administration of the province had increased 222 percent. "I'm also concerned about the cost of education today," said Mr. Bullbrook, "considering the quality of education our children are receiving, We've got to get back to the fundamentals in education." Mr. 'Bullbrook ridiculed' the governments establishment of the Lamarsh enquiry into violence on television. "Why does he do that when the province has no jurisdiction over television?" asked Mr. Bullbrook. "Why doesn't he do something about the movies that are playing in our theatres? He does have jurisdiction over them." Mr. Bullbrook concluded that the Progressive Conservative government had been in power too long and "exuded arrogan- ce." He mentioned that the federal Liberals had _done the same thing in the past and it had resulted in their defeat. He predicted the same fate for the present provincial government in Ontario. Despite some opposition to changes in the provincial elec- - Please turn to page 3 total capacity of the plant by having Exeter draw from that source." Mr. Etherington said statistics showed the town of Exeter used 204,000 gallons on May 20 last year but this jumped to 1,548,000 gallons sometime in August. "Where does all this water go Huron MPP Jack Riddell, in a telephone interview from Toronto, Tuesday, told the Times-Advocate he was hopeful any problems arising out of a bid by Exeter to gain more water from Usborne township, could be solved by the people involved, "Hopefully the town and the township will come to some agreement but if not, the Minister of the Environment would in- tercede to determine if there is any threat to agriculture," said Mr. Riddell. Mr, Riddell denied speaking to the Minister of Agriculture on the matter \as had been stated but said he had spoken personally to the Minister of Environment William Newman, He said the matter had not reached the floor of the Ontario Legislature to his knowledge. Mr,Riddell said he asked the Minister of the Environment what would happen if the town and the township could not agree. Investigate two break and enters enTtewroarielwukinednerts in9vresbOrge:titanannyd Exeter QPP this week, One is at Traylor Industries, Hensall where thieves gained entry by a window and took about fottr eases of pop and five packages of cigarettes valued at $31.03, The breakin was discovered Monday morning. Entry was also gained at a lab at the Centralia College of Agricultural Technology, but nothing was reported missing. The would-be thieves atempted to get into a pharmacy section, but were unsuccessful, Cyclist hurt in area crash A motorcycle rider was injured in one of three accidents in- vestigated by the Exeter OPP detachment this week. John Neilands, Hensall, sustained cuts and bruises when his motorcycle was in collision with a tractor driven by Kenneth Elder, RR2 Hensel]. on Friday at 2:50 p.m. The mishap occurred on Queen St. in Hensall. Damage to the motorcycle was listed at 1250 by Constable Bill Lewis. At 5:00 p.m, the same day, an unknown vehicle struck a car owned by Donald McLellan, RR 2 Staffa, while parked in the municipal parking lot in Hen- sail. Damage to the McLellan car was set at $300 by Constable Ed Wilcox. The other crash was reported at 3:20 p.m. Sunday, when cars driven by Vicki Lynn Kiss,London, and Charles Hill, RR 1 Ripley, collided on Highway 21 about one mile north of Highway 83. Damage in the crash was estimated at $2,000 by Constable Wilcox. During the week, the detach- ment officers charged 11 people under the Highway Traffic Act. There were seven charges under the Criminal Code and nine under the Liquor Control Act. The total LCA charges to date this year now stand at 147. Hay awards drain work Hay Township council has awarded a $27,532.41 tender for the Allen Street-drain, Dashwood to Lenford Construction of London. Work is now being done on the drain. Council at their monthly meeting Monday, agreed to tender for a road grader, due to the damage on the old machine. The tenders are to be in the hands of council by May 15. Also accepted was the budget prepared by Zurich and area fire departments of $55,580. Hay Township will be paying 48 percent of the budget. The fire department also serves Stanley Township. Accounts passed for the past month totalled $7,762.88. Council also set aside one mill on the 1975 taxes for recreation. Hay clerk-treasurer Wayne Horner said council has ap- pointed two members to the newly formed recreation com- mittee of the township. in August?" asked Mr. Etherington. "They need extra water in August at the very time when our wells are at their lowest level. What, happens if we need more water later?" Farmer G Zandbergen related how technicians had come onto — Please turn to page 3 The Minister replied that if a settlement was not possible, his department would investigate the matter to determine if there was any danger of a lowering of the water table in Usborne if Exeter was to draw more water from township wells. "The same situation exists in Kitchener," said Mr. Riddell. "The only difference is that Kitchener has no alternate source of water while Exeter could tap into the Lake Huron source once bashwood and Crediton hook up." Mr. Riddell said he could not understand why Exeter would want to lay pipe four miles to the well in Usborne if the distance to the Lake Huron pipeline would be about three and a half miles, "And the 'Usborne well is certainly not going to be an everlasting supply," he com- mented. "My personal opinion is that — Please turn to page 3 $157 increase on $6,000 assessment Stephen taxes up 41 percent No vice-principals at Stephen, Usborne A scathing attack on the "fiscal irresponsibility" of the govern- ment of Ontario was delivered by Sarnia MPP James Bullbrook at the inaugural meeting of the Huron-Middlesex Provincial Liberal Association on Wed- nesday night at the Dashwood Community Centre. Mr. Bullbrook, energy critic of the provincial Liberal caucus, said, "Premier Davis doesn't understand that bureaucrats can't run a government as well as people can. We must have input from the total spectrum of our population," That the operation of the provincial government was being taken out of the hands of the people was pointed out by Mr. Bullbrook when he compared the record of the present Progressive e-Conservati velavernmen t to that of former premier John Roberts. "Under Mr. Robarts, 78 per- cent of all bills passed were sent to the standing committees where the members of the Legislature can discuss them and get input from any interested citizens." said Mr. Bullbrook. "Under the Davis regime, only three percent of the bills lave gone to the standing com- mittees." Mr. Bullbrook said that the Legislature passed 37 bills in the final three weeks of the last session and charged that there is no possible way for sufficient discussion of the bills, even by members of the Legislature. "As for Mr. Davis, we put a clock on him and found out that in four weeks of the Legislative session, he attended for a mere 37 minutes," charged Mr. Bullbrook. Usborne to tell ministry of change of mind ay mistake okaying water test Riddell suggests town consider lake water