The Huron Expositor, 1996-03-20, Page 1Broomball
Seaforth has another
provincial champion.
Parr Line Ladies
bring home gold.
See page 9
Theatre
Blyth Festival
announces its
line-up for
the 1996 season.
See page 7
* C4N*
CENTENAIRES
R OEYELOPUEMT HOCKEY CLUB
ay -0 -s
Exeter visits
Seaforth tonight
for Game 6
f division finals.
Go Cents Go!
See page 10
Your Community Newspaper Since 1860 — Seaforth, Ontario March 20, 1996 — 75 Cents Plus GST
(-Briefly
Council set to
approve zero
budget incease
Despite significant cuts in
provincial grants and assorted
transfer payments, Seaforth
Council is working on final
details of the 0 per cent bud-
' get increase it plans to
approve next month for the
town's portion of local taxes
this year.
Final budget figures from
Huron County and the boards.
of education that will have to
be factored into this year's
. 'mill rate won't be known
'until about April 10, says
Mayor Irwin Johnston.
, "Council and town employ=
ees, worfied together on this
budget ,which,we think is
very efftcient'without looking
at user fees to any greater
extent,—Johnston says.
The mayor adds Seaforth
taxpayers are more used to'
user fees -than in other
Ontario m u n i dirSITtrevr
because they have been pay-
' ing user fees for garbage col-
lection for some time. -
Yard- sale in June
At last week's regular
meeting of council; Deputy
Clerk/Economic
Development Co-ordinator
Cathy Garrick outlined plan's
for a giant community yard
sale in Seaforth on Saturday,
lune 1.
Plans include yard sales
downtown, inside at the arena
and around town where resi-
,dents can host sales on their
own property:
Garrick estimated costs
for print advertising from
$200 to $250, and radio
advertising paid for by 'the
Town of $caforth costing
$948 plus tax, to run Tuesday
to Saturday prior to the event.
Cookies for sell
The spring Girl Guide
cookie campaign begins
March 25 and runs until
Xpri119.
Local members of Scaforth
Sparks and Brownies will be
selling boxes of chocolate
and vanilla cookies for $3
each. All proceeds go to thc
local groups.
Homecoming
thanked for donation
The Canadian Foodgrains
Bank has scnt a letter thank-
ing the Seaforth District
Homecoming '95 committee
for the $ I.187.92 collected
for the organization at last
summer's homecoming
church service.
Open later Thursday
In the Feb. 28 edition of
The Huron Expositor. the
hours of operation for the
Seaforth and District
Foodhank for Thursdays
were printed as 1-2 p.m.,
from information circulated
by the foodbank at its Feb. 25
opening. Those hours are
incorrect.
The correct Thursday hours
for the foodbank arc 1 - 4
p.m. It's also open On
Saturday from 2-5 p.m. and
Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 12
noon.
Sizzlers capture gold medal at provincials!
Y~*V PHQTO BY DAVID SCOTT
SIZZLERS CELEBRATE - The Seaforth Sizzlers celebrated their gold medal provincial ringette victory Wednesday night with a ride around Seaforth
and Egmondville in the firetruck. For more information on the win and congratulations from local businesses and residents, see page 16.
Better phone system will cost $900,000
Bell Canada out for profit,
say Seaforth Councillors
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
Seaforth Council feels
Bell Canada is using the
profit motive to justify this
town getting the short end of
the stick when it comes to
telephone'service.
It is considerably miffed at
a letter filed at last Tuesday
night's council meeting. from
Robert Neill, an account
executive with Bell, which
says it would cost about
$900,000 to upgrade Seaforth
switching equipment and that
"the potential yearly revenue
derived from this upgrade is
insufficient to provide an
acceptable economic payback
for this large investment:
"As a result, there are no
plans at present time to
upgrade the Seaforth equip-
ment," the Bell executive's
letter states.
After discussion, council
referred the issue back to
committee.
Deputy -Reeve Bill Teall
feels council has a responsi-
bility to pursue the matter
further, even to correspon-
dence with the telephone
licensing' commission,
because he thinks ' Bell has a
responsibility to provide all
its customers with compara-
ble service.
"It should be that they
have the responsibility,
through their license, to pro-
vide a similar service to all
their customers," Teall's
notes state:
Simply that we are a small
rural community and don't
have the large market profits
available that a large city
does should not be a limiting
factor.
"If this is the case then all
rural communities are in ser-
vice trouble," Teall contin-
ues. "We will not be able to
have call'forwarding, call
identification, etc.
"However, we will receive
all phone cost increases; such
as the newfour dollar
increase over two years."We
will also lose out in commer-
cial enterprises by being less
competitive." •
Meeting on Seaforth memorabilia
A museum would cost too
much but local heritage huffs
arc planning a puhlic get-
together to sec how much
'interest there would he in a
project to preserve the mem-
ories and memorabilia of
Seaforth.
. Mayor Irwin Johnston.
economic development offi-
cer Cathy Garrick, Local
Architectural Conservation
Committee (LACAC) Chair
Walter Armes and Ontario
Ministry of Culture represen-
tative Cathy Campbell of the
set up a working committee
to pursue the project further.
Originally March 27 was
targeted for a public meeting.
but Garrick's report notes the
OPSEU strike has made
"Campbell and some of the
other persons organizing the
meeting unavailable."
Hanover office met in thc
middle of last month to toss
around the idea of preserving
and/or protecting Scaforth's
memorabilia making it acces-
sible and useful to thc com-
munity.
"A full fledged museum is
not being considered because
of the initial expense a3 well
as the ongoing operating
costs," Garrick reported to
last week's meeting of
' Scaforth Council. "Instead,
we are investigating' other
options which may include
static displays at a variety of
locations in the community."
Minutes of last month's
LACAC meeting note the
local group would like to
host the meeting to create
interest and awareness, and
Heart and Stroke hosts `Morning of Stars'
The Huron Chapter of the
Heart and Stroke Foundation
of Ontario is hosting a
"Morning of Stars" at Town
Hall in Scaforth early
Monday (March 25).
Celebrities scheduled for
the event from 9 to I() a.m.
arc Ja) Campbell, weather-
man with CFPL-TV in
London; Dr. Murray Huff, a
foundation funded research
scientist at London's Robarts
Institute; Dr. Martin
Bokhout, former Huron
County Medical Officer of
Health; Lorraine Devereaux,
nutritionist at Scaforth
Community Hospital, who
will discuss "Normalizing
nutrition: What is healthy
eating?"
Huron chapter president
Ian Keuls and co-ordinator
Steve Smith will also be
there, among other reasons to
recognize the chairs of the
local person-to-person cam-
paign Nancy and Mike Hak
and Mary Van den Hengel.
Huron .County councils to
meet on restructuring
BY NELLIE EVANS
' SSP News Staff
Huron County's 26 munici-
pal councils are being invited
to brainstorm for the second
timc in three months on coun-
ty -wide guidelines on restruc-
turing.
County council's strategic
planning cdmmittce has
scheduled a meeting for this
Saturday '(March 23) at
Central Huron Secondary
.School in Clinton from 8:30
a.m. to -2:30 p.m.
"...all local councils- .and
administrations (are) invited to
discuss ideas for principles
guidelines and strategies for
restructuring within' the coun-
ty," said a memo from county
clerk administrator Lynn
Murray.
The memo was, received last
ccek by Hensall Council.
Armed with.this information,
thc committee plans to draft
"principles. directions and
procedures" for local councils
to use in restructuring talks:
A third strategic planning
day may he scheduled. said
Murray, to review the draft -
and develop permanent "made
in Huron" guidelines.
Huron County's first plan-
ning day was held on January
26 which. according to
Murray's •memo, . indicated
more direction and informa-
tion from the province is need-
ed. •
"But (they) also noted that
the province has hecn quite
clear in indicating they arc
looking for municipalities to
craft local solutions and there-
fore will not he providing pre-
scriptive directions on how to
proceed."
Robert Bell Industries
objects to preliminary site
plan of car wash, office
Scaforth Council and the
planning advisory committee
(PAC) are wrestling with site
plan requirements for a real
estate office/car wash propos-
al by Sharon and Lco Medd
for Main Street South in
Scaforth.
The Ontario Municipal
Board (OMB) ruled last year
a site plan for the develop-
ment was required, and out-
lined specific conditions for
approval.
Charles Smith, president
of Robert Bell Industries,
sent two letters which includ-
ed many questions, some
complaints and 32 specific
comments on the preliminary
site plan to a meeting of the
planning committee late last
month.
Among these concerns,
was building size.
"If it is to scale, the build-
ing shown on the 'prelimi-
nary' ON plan would appear
to he much larger than the
tine on thc site plan made
available to the puhlic before
the passing of amendment
No. 9 to the Official Plan and
thc passing of bylaw 35 -
1992," the Bell Industries
president notes.
"The earlier, smaller rede-
velopment is also the one that
was considered during the
OMB hearing. The submis-
sion of thc new 'preliminary'
site plan proposing a larger
development would appear to
create a violation of zoning
bylaw, paragraph 3.8.2.
CONTINUED on. page 2