Times-Advocate, 1983-03-23, Page 1SUiLITY
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Phone 235 -1964 -
Crediton, Dashwood folk plan attack
Two villages fight 'bank clo�lng
Dashwood and Crediton
residents were shocked and
dismayed Friday to see signs
in the windows of the Bank of
Montreal's sub -agencies in
the two villages advising
clients their. only banking
facilities were 'relocating"
Effective April 15, Services
provided up till now by the.
Dashwood and Crediton of-
fices would in future bd pro-
vided at the Exeter branch of
the Bank of Montreal.
The Dashwood sub -agency
at present is open for business
on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays from 10 a.m. until 3
p.m., and the Crediton branch
keeps the same hours on
Tuesdays and Thursdays.
On Monday evening, more
than 250 concerned citizens
REALISTIC SIMULATION Dashwood fireman John
Becker carries a blindfolded Don Appleby, director of
vocational services at ARC Industries, down to the main
floor during the simulated evacuation of a smoke-filled
building.
ARC Industries
get firs training
•The staff of ARC Industries
spent their processional
development day- last week
.attending a safety workshop
on the premises conducted by
Jim Carney, Emergency
Response Team, London. The
private firm is hired by
various types of companies to
teach safety concepts, and
had previously held a first aid
seminar .at ARC.
This time the emphasis was
on fire prevention and safety .<
OPP Constable Wally
Tomasik from the Exeter
detachment lectured on arsim
prevention. Dashwood fire
•chief Ilarold Stire and
firemen Jim Hoffman and
John Becker came In .
familiarize themselves with
the. layout of the building
(which some of them had not
been in for a number of
years) and to help develop an
emergency evacuation plan
for the ARC facilities.
• The firemen showed the
participants how to operate a
fire extinguisher. Many had
never had one in their hands
before. and there's no time to
read the directions in an ac-
tual fire situation.
Staff members were blincl-
folded . and led out of the
building to simulate condi-
tions if the rooms were filled'
with dense smoke:
Don Appleby, director of
vocational services, confess-
ed to being unexpectedly
disoriented when blindfolded.
"You think you know where
the walls and doors are, and
the position of the furniture,
until you can't see", he said.
The experience will
heighten staff awareness of
the feelings of the employees
in their care in case they have
to deal with a teal emergen-
cy as the staff would be
responsible for leading their
clients to safety.
Jim Carney, a trained
emergency medical care at-
tendant, gave tips on what to
do in many situations such as
dealing with downed elec-
trical wires, treating
electrically -caused burns and
giving artificial respiration to
victims of smoke inhalation.
Part of his lecture concen-
trated on the physical plant,
where fire doors are required.
fire code regulations concer-
ning signs in a building. and
specific instructions on
evacuating a site.
from Dashwood, Crediton and
surrounding community at-
tended a public meeting in the
Dashwood community hall.
chair�ed by trustee George
Tiemaib. to discuss the impen-
ding loss of their local banks.
Senior citizens are worried
about being unable to travel
to Exeter or Grand Bend,
especially in ,the winter.
Besides the nuisance of not
being able to do one's banking
in one's town. Dashwood and
Crediton merchants and
tradesmen fear a -drop in
business.
Farmers decried the in-
convenience of driving extra
miles in the midst of a busy
schedule. All anticipated the
loss of the personal touch they
were used to, and dreaded the
thought of future dealings
with hank personnel who
were unfamiliar with them
and their operations.
The ARC employees would
txi deprived of the beneficial
experience of walking to the
bank and personally cashing
their pay cheques.
By a show of hands, 75 per-
cent of those present in-
dicated they would switch to
another bank if the Bank of
Montreal goes ahead, with its
proposed closures.
Stephen'Deputy Reeve
Ralph Weber, Dashwood
trustees George Tiernan, Ken
Rader and Nancy Rader and
business representatives Ron
Merrier and Paul Turnbull
will meet tonight (Wednes-
day) behind closed doors with
the vice president of the
Western Ontario division of
the Bank of Montreal to see if
a compromise can be worked
out.
MPP Jack Riddell has join-
ed the protest. In a letter to W.
E. Bradford, president of the
.Bank of Montreal, he express-
ed his surprisn and
displeasure over the closures.
Ile pointed out that these two
branches service the best
agricultural communities to
be found anywhere, and
brought up many of the same
objections that had been ex-
pressed at the public meeting.
Riddell went on to say the
existing charter banks
operate as semi -monopolies,
and owe service to the small
centres as well as the larger
ones. Before requesting the
Bank of Montreal reconsider
its proposed course of action,
Riddell said: "1 can't beliet4f
that the closing of these bran-
ches is a matter of economics.
Banks cannot plead poverty
as their profits have seldom,
if ever. been higher.
"Rural Ontario may only
It's spring?
Mother Nature continued to
confound area residents this
week. - -
After basking through
warm temperatures and en-
joying record low snowfall
during the winter. they woke
up to find spring had official-
ly arrived on Monday.
With it came freezing ram
a ,d snow, followed on Tues-
day by one of the heaviest
snowfalls of the season.
While many had alreadyn
raked their lawns, ,they
couldn't see the result of their
work as it lay under a blanket
of white. ,Snowplows made
one of their few appearances
of the winter and snow
shovels had to be hauled out
of storage.
J
MPP GETS TIME OF DAY -- Huron -Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell was the centre of
a roast in Seaforth Wednesday night marking 10 years of service in the Ontario
Legislature. Presenting a clock are Joe Hogan, Bernard Benn and Marlin Vincent.
Ten years as MPP
Riddell gets roasted
Huron-Ji(dl(s x JII eited stories ttom he Iret Bruce M
Murray (:aunt.
Jack It-iddell was roasted by campaign. Rid(lell's son - Congratulatory letters were
his fellow MI'I's and political Wayne. of Clinton, got in 'her. read Irom provincial Liberal
colleagues on the occasion of act of roasting his fattier leader David Peterson,
his loth anniversary in the when he talked of the qualities former provincial leader
provincial legislature. !ceded to be a politician Robert Nixon. Rainy River
MPI' Pat Reed. Kitchener
MPi' Jim itt•ittup, Perth
MPP 1lugh E(lighoffer, Sar-
nia MPP Andy Brant and SI.
Catharines MPP, .him
ilradley.
At the close of the roast,
Riddell was presented with an
engraved clock from the
iluron Middlesex Liberal
Association
On March 13. 1973. Riddell
was first elected to the provin
cia 1 legislature and ant idotes
from That time were told he
'Campaign officials. The roast
was held on March 1b al the
Sea forth ('onimunity ('entre.
Muriel Murphy and
Howard Aitken of (xlerich
and ian McAllister of Zurich
MPPs taking part in the
roast included Ron Van Horne
of London North. Scan Con-
way of Renfrew North,
Richard' Ruston of Essex
North. Eric Cunningham of
Wentworth North and Riurray
Elston ofluron-Bruce. The
master of ceremonies for the
roast was former Huron-'
make up a small percentage
of the overall population but
the agricultural industry pro-
vides directly and indirectly.
approximately 25 percent of
population employment and
economic, activity. Small
business is still the backbone
of this country. This base
must be properly serviced by
not. only banks, but by mail
serSices, transportation.
education and all qther ser-
vices that industries and
businesses need and use.
"The banks certainly' can-
• not be excluded'from those
services most needed by
business. industry and
agriculture." •
Plan expansion.
Exeter council endorsed a
recommendation from the
local planning board this
week that the Bank of Mon-
treal not be required to enter
into a site plan agreement for
the addition planned at the
local bank.
Details of the bank's plan
for the addition have not been
made public as yet, but it is
understood that it will become
a regional office.
The expansion of the local
building was outlined to the
planning board by Wchitect
Victor Marsh and Bank of
Montreal officials John Bet-
ty and Peter Tracey.
It was indicated that the ex-
ternal appearance will main-
tain the existing Victorian
character of the structure.
Don Campbell, executive
director of the South Huron
and District Association for
the Mentally ' Handicapped.
was also spurred to action.
After receiving a letter last
week from the Exeter branch
of the Bank of Montreal
listing the reasons for closing
the Dashwood sub -agency. he
aired his concerns in a two--
page single-spaced epistle to
the London-based vice presi-
dent of the bank's western On-
tario division with.copies to
Tanner Marzialli, personal
banking manager of the
western Ontario division. MP
Murray Cardiff, MPP Jack
Riddell, lion Davis, manager
of the Dashwood sub -agency
and Allan Johnson, manager
of the Exeter, branch.
. _Campbell pointed out that
-the operating and capital fund '
transactions of the SHDAMH.
Please turn to page 2
GET YOUR DAFIODILS FRIDAY -- Members of the three Exeter chapters of the
Beta Sigma Phi Sorority will be selling daffodils for the local Cancer campaign,
Friday morning. Shown with a sample of the flowers are chapter representatives
Sharon McNeily,. Linda Deelstra and Eileen Ross. T -A photo
Ames
dvocate
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
One Hundred and Tenth Year
& North Lambton Since1873
EXETER, ONTARIO, March 23, 1983
Price Per Copy 50
nts
Park boat firm is refloated;
mobile housing back on road
There was good news for
the area economy on two
fronts this week with the an-
nouncements that Hughes
Columbia Inc. in Huron Park
and Custom Trailers in Ex-
eter would be back in
operation.
Ten employees have
already been recalled at the
Exeter mobile hpusing plant
and another 15 will be back on
the ,fob in the immediate
future.
PrOduction at the Huron
.1
DRESS UP AT CCAT - Tuesday was Dress Up.day at Centralia College of Agricultural
Technology. Shown in various get-ups are Mike Muller, Dave Seavers, Rick Cremasce
and Lauren Messer holding up Gil Smith. . T -A photo.
Expresses concern again
over pre -budget spending
For the second meeting in
a row, the practice of local
committees endorsing expen-
ditures before the town's
budget has been set has been
called into question by Coun-
cillor Gaylan Josephson.
This week, he questioned a
decision by the industry and
tourism promotion commit-
tee in approving an ex-
penditure of $1,064 to Rose
Marketing Services for 500
reprints of the town's
brochures.
Two weeks ago, he had
questioned the area fire board
authorizing expenditure of
$30,000 for a new rescue van.
• In both cases. Josephson
explained he was not arguing
against the actual purchase,
rather the principle of coun-
cil approving those expen-
ditures before they were ap-
proved in the total town
budget.
Josephson noted that a se-
cond motion in the industry
and tourism promotion com-
mittee report authorized the
chairman to accept the lowest
bid for a six-page pamphlet
without that item even com-
ing to council for approval.
Reeve Bill Mickle, chair-
man of the industry promo-
tion committee, argued that
the expenditures were in
keeping with last year's
budget. However, Josephson
reminded him that as finance
committee chairman, Mickle
had previously stressed that
council would have to adopt
zero -base hudgetting this
year.
He agreed with Mickle's
argument that the brochures
were an essential tool for the
operation of the committee.
but contended that a delay of
one month until the item
could be approved as part of
the town budget would not
create any major problems.
When the vole was held on
adopting the committee
report, Josephson voted
against it, although he failed
to win his point as the motion
was approved by Councillors.
Dorothy Chapman, Don.
MacGregor, Bill Rose and
Morley Hall.
Rose, whose firm got the
printing 'order, secogded the
motion to adopt the commit-
tee action.
Josephson took the oppor-
tunity to make his point again
later in the meeting during a
discussion on the South Huron
rec centre board's decision to
Please turn to page 2
Construction costs
well below estimate
The current recession may job was 8121,951.47 and
not have many lenefits,•Intl 8110,773 on the sewer.
Exeter council may have Both bids were accepted by
discovered one this week. council subject to approval of
the engineer, the ministry of
transportation end corn
munication and the town's'
finance committee.
Works superintendent
Glenn Kells noted that while
council had 30 days in which
to approve the projects, he
pointed out that in fairness to
thewinning bidder, the deci-
sion should be made as soon
as possible as the perfor-
mance bond posted may place
some limitations on the firm
being able to bid on other jobs
in which they may be
interested.
Finance committee chair-
man Bill Mickle indicated the
committee would look at the
budget ramifications as soon
as possible.
They found that tender calls
for two local projects brought
keen bidding from 26 contrac-
tors and the lowest tenders on
the two projects in total were
some $24,000 below the
engineer's estimates.
C.W.A. Construction of Lon-
don was the low bidder on
both the Pryde Boulevard
reconstruction and the south-
west storm sewer. The firm
bid 168,106.66 on the Pryde job
and $72,713.29 on the sewer
project.
The estimate on the Pryde
Boulevard reconstruction was
$86,000 and the price had been
estimated at $100,000 for the
south-west storm sewer.
Highest bid on the Ptyde
(
Park yacht firm is not ex-
pected to resume until late
summer or early fall and it is
anticipated that about 35
hourly rated employees are to
be rehired at that time, to be
followed by as many as 30 in
months' following 'as sales
dictate.
Custom Trailers'
employees :nave been idled
since mid-December and the
recall stems from restructur-
ing of the firm with area
automobile dealer and
horseman Bob Hamather
becoming ,involved- in the
business with the T'Irttl'ir
founder, Bill Smith..
The new company will be
known as Northlander
Industries. -
In an interview this week,
the two men indicated there is
a renewed interest in mobile
housing ,now \that interest
rates have declined.
Smith said the firm has
orders for 60 of their new pro-
duct line, a min -liner. The
one -bedroom unit which is.
aimed at the recreational
market, drew considerable
interest at recent home
shows.
Describing the unit as a
"big travel trailer or a little
house". Smith said it is
designed for in -park use,
rather than as a unit that
holidayers haul down the
road. Itis 10' by 39' and was
put on the market last
August.
Smith. who started Custom
Trailer in 1964, also indicated
several orders have ,been
received for the firm's
regular housing units and the
modular homes. • • .
"With the decline in interest
rates we expect new interest
'in this area": he added, show-
ing considerable enthusiasm
for the fact that the jobs at the
plant will be protected
through the restruLturing.
There were 20 people in-
volved at the time of- the
December. shut -down. The
firm had a high of 42
employees previously.
The deal involving the
Huron Park firm -was signed
late Tuesday night, after
., several months of -negotiation
with a 'group of investors
headed by a' Kitchener cou-
ple, Ralph and Audrey
Sprung.
Hughes went into receiver-
ship last June, leaving $2.6
million in debts and throwing
about 85 people out of work.
Included in the sale is a deal
whereby the former
employees will receive a
portion of the back -pay and
holiday pay which they were
owed when the boat firm
sunk.
The employees are to share
in 867,461.91 as part payment
of what they were owed
when cash flow problems
closed the firm down. 'l he set-
tlement comes at a time when
mapy of the former
employees are in danger of
having their unemployment
benefits cat off.
Please turn to page 2
Recreation budget
increases sharply
The South Htiron rec center
board of managment is ask-
ing Exeter council to come up
with a sizeable increase in
grants this year.
At Monday's sessiop, Coun-
cillor Bill Rose said the
budget draft submitted to the
town's finance committee
calls for "considerably more'
than last year, adding dial the
circumstances for the in-
crease will be explained to the
town's finance committee.
The report indicated a re-
quest' for $95,3891, made up of
$1400 for capital expen-
ditures and $81.189 for
operating funds. Last year.
council approved grants of
$78.000.
. The rec board budget is
based on the grants received
from the three neighboring
townships being the same as
last year. However. (liseus-
sions are being planned in an
effort to have the townships
increase their support.
A recent user study com-
pleted by the rec staff shows
that Exeter is paying a higher
portion of the costs in relation
to the number of people from
all municipalities using the
local facilities and programs.
WE ARE IRISH -- Dressed for the occasion at Thursday's St. Patrick's Day celebra-
tion at St. Patrick's School were Marieke Vandenberg, Fraser Gott and Melissa
O'Leary. T -A photo,
•