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The Citizen, 1991-05-15, Page 1Home and Garden 12 page section included Champs Brussels dart champs go to nationals See page 2 Unique truck Blyth fire department gets tanker/pumper See page 32 Citi Lzen Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. VOL. 7 NO. 19 WEDNESDAY, MAY 15,1991.60 CENTS Big lift Workmen attach slings to the Campbell Transport bulk was a tough lift for a huge crane that was brought onto the tanker that upset in the fog near Blyth early Friday site. Dozens of people gathered to watch the operation, morning. With a 23 ton load of flour on board, the truck Truck accident draws onlookers Dozens of spectators gathered to watch the uprighting of a huge bulk tanker after an accident early Friday morning left the truck badly damaged in a ditch off Cty. Rd. 25 just east of Blyth. Bruce Campbell of Belgrave, a driver for Campbell Transport of Blyth was heading out for an early morning run to Toronto with a load of flour for Howson and Howson Limited when he came on a patch of fog just east of town. He lost his bearings in the fog and felt the truck go off the road. Attempts to recover were in vain and the truck tipped over in the south ditch. The cab of the truck, propelled by its heavy load, was crushed but Mr. Campbell was able to climb out unin­ jured. He was back at the scene of the accident in the afternoon to help with operations to right the truck. Once the truck was in the ditch the problem became how to right it with its 23 ton of load. The truck couldn't be unloaded because the pump on the truck is powered by the tractor as well as being gravity fed. The con­ cern was not to damage the alu­ minum bulk tank in raising the truck. A huge crane was brought in and Deficit, landfill purchase drive Grey Twp. taxes up Grey Township taxpayers will face an eight per cent lax increase in 1991, under a SI, 171,393 budget adopted by township council at its May 6 meeting. Taxes for municipal purposes will increase by IS.6 per cent due to two major financial needs. The council had to make up a S25.000 deficit from last year caused by the unex­ pected need for a new fire truck and this year will purchase the Walton landfill site which it has been leasing. Sharing the cost with McKillop Township, Grey will contribute $55,000. The increase was held down fur­ after a lengthy preparation worked in combination with a local tow truck to tip the vehicle upright. The tanker was dented but suffered ther by council's decision to drop a S30.000 bridge-maintenance item from the road budget for this year. Township Clerk-Treasurer Brad Knight said the council could have reduced the increase by dipping into its reserves but the reserves are what allows the township to get by on only two tax payments a year and council­ lors felt they didn't want to impose an extra tax payment on farmers at planting tune. Combined with the 8.3 per cent increase from Huron County and the 4.3 per cent increase from the Huron County Board of Education the total mill rate will increase eight per cent. only two small cracks and the $4000 load of flour was recovered. By Mon­ day the trailer was back on the road delivering another load of four. Council adopted a new fee sched­ ule for the Walton Landfill Site. Effective May 18, a tire disposal fee of S3 for tires ($5 with rim) 15" or less will be levied on tires left at the landfill site. The disposal fee for tires from 16" to 19" will be S6 (S7 with rim) and the fee for all tires 20" and greater will be S20. Council acted upon the recommen­ dations of the Walton Landfill Committee. The Committee indi­ cated that several other neighbour­ ing landfills had tire disposal fees and that this measure should insure continued on page 31 Blyth okays computer purchase Blyth village council Wednesday night approved the purchase of a computer and software for the municipal and Public Utilities Commission office at a cost of $28,300. The purchase of the system, which will bill hydro and water bills for the PUC and carry out other functions for the municipal office, was necessitated by the decision of the London PUC not to continue billing for other utilities in the area. Blyth had received notice that its arrangement to have com­ puterized billing done in London would be terminated at the end of this year. The computer and printer for the new system (the hardware) costs about $10,000. The remainder of the cost goes for the computer pro­ gram to handle PUC and municipal requirements. Council will pur­ chase the hardware while the PUC pays for the software. There may be some savings from Blyth doing its own billing but Helen Grubb, village clerk treasur­ er said since the meeting that she isn't counting on large savings. The cost of supplies for the billing pro­ cess may eat up the savings, she said. The main gain will be having the billing done right at home instead of having to be sent out of the office, she said. Council had allocated $5000 for the computer purchase under the as yet not-approved 1991 budget. Council approved taking the other $5000 out of the capital works reserve where $22,000 had been stashed away for future capital pur­ chases, at the end of 1990. Part of the software for the municipal office won't have to be paid for until 1992. Mrs. Grubb told councillors that she and village auditor Bill Voddcn had visited other municipalities to sec their systems in work and rec­ ommended the Harris system which was "the Cadillac of systems for utilities" though the company was just starting to design systems for municipal offices. Holiday changes The first big holiday weekend of the year starts Friday with the beginning of the Victoria Day holi­ day. Banks, the post office and most stores will be closed on Monday for the holiday. At The Citizen work will go on in order to get your newspaper to you on time Wednes­ day morning. However, there will be several changes in deadlines. Deadline for all display advertis­ ing will be Friday at 4:30 p.m. by phone or at the Blyth office and 2 p.m. at the Brussels office. This will allow time for our sales staff to design the advertisements. Classified advertising will be accepted until the regular deadline of 2 p.m. Monday in Brussels or 4 p.m. by phone or at the Blyth office. The same deadlines apply for news. Because some of the staff is on holiday, the Brussels office will be open only from 12 noon to 2 p.m.