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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-02-06, Page 1 (2)(• Chief questions report's statistics revealing OPP would lower costs A study on policing in Huron County, released this week by the Ontario Police Commission "makes no recommendations" about which of the four alter- natives should be implemented, however, facts, figures and space allotted in the report point to a direct, if unstated, preference for takeover of all policing by the OPP. Exeter Police Chief Ted Day. said Wednesday, he "just cannot see it as feasible." The four month study into policing alternatives in the coun- ty reported that police in Huron county need an improved com- munications system and• in some cases, upgraded accommoda- T"ion, no matter which method of policing is chosen. It also found that the public generally appears satisfied with the quality of policing. The four alternatives con- sidered were: Leaving the pre- sent system in effect; retaining the present system but up- grading communications with a central dispatch system; es- tablishing a county wide police force; and turning all policing duties over to the provincial police. Huron county council re- quested a study of policing in June at the urging of the police chiefs in the five towns, who suggested a county wide system might be a viable alternative to the Ontario task force on policing recommendation that towns with populations of less than 15,000 should be policed by the OPP. The chiefs feared that if this recommendation were adopted, a good deal of local autonomy in policing would be lost. The study concerned itself primarily with the costs involved in the four alternatives but. Chief ODC will dissolve Huron Park brigade The Ontario Development Corporation announced Tuesday that the permanent fire depart- ment at Iluron Park would be dissolved on March 31 this year. Russ Waddell, director of Industrial Parks for ODC in- formed fire chief Robbie Robichaud and six full time fire fighters that their services would be discontinued at that time. Simultaneously. Stephen township officials entered into an agreement with ODC to take over the. present fire fighting equip- ment at Huron Park. Stephen clerk Wilmar Wein said his council would be at- tempting to interest present volunteer members of the Huron Park brigade to continue. The fire fighting equipment will continue to be housed in its present location at the Industrial Park. Wein said Stephen council had not decided on the areas outside of Huron Park Industrial and residential areas that the Huron Park department would cover. Robichaud has been fire chief at Huron Park for eight years and the department has been - providing 24 hour service to Huron Park. The other full-time employees are Erroll Skillender, Frank Hunt. Frank Pyke, Lloyd Hodgins. Keith Brintnell and Dave McDonald. According to Robichaud 10 volunteers are now on the Huron Park fire department. He said they were required to work and live in the park to qualify as fire fighters. ANOTHER SIGNATURE — Getting Tuesday's Sportsmen's Dinner. Above, Russ Evan signs for Dave Bogart. autographs was popular at former London Major slugger T -A photo. Apprehend suspects in area theft cases Charges are pending following investigation into a break, enter and theft at the Club Albatross at Huron Park this week. The theft was reported to police early Friday morning. About $750 worth of liquor was taken, along with a 300 -pound safe which contained ap- proximately $500 in cash, in- cluding a coin collection and some old currency. A camera was also taken by the thieves, who gained entry by forcing a window. The safe was later found at Benmiller, while recovery of some of the liquor and cash was made at a home in Goderich and one in Clinton following the execution of 'search warrants. Exeter OPP Constable Bill McIntyre and Goderich OPP Constable Lorne/Carter are in charge of the investigation. Charges have been laid against a Stephen Township woman , a man from Grand Bend and one from Goderich following the theft Miller visit delayed hour The visit by Ontario Health Minister Frank Miller to South Huron Hospital this week has been delayed. The visit is now planned for 3:00 p.m. Friday. The public has been invited to the hospital meeting, which is expected to last about one hour. The health minister will also visit Goderich, Seaforth and Clinton during his Friday tour of Huron. • of meat from an unoccupied home owned by Don Dougherty at concession 13, Stephen. About $50 worth of meat was taken from a freezer and refrigerator in the home. Marion Wood, RR 3 Dashwood, and John Burley, Goderich, have been charged with possession of - stolen property, while Douglas Holt, RR 2 Grand Bend, has been charged with break, entry and theft. The three appeared in Exeter court this week, but were remanded without plea until February 11. OPP Constable Bill Glassford was in charge of the in- vestigation. In another theft, Larry Min- derlein, Huron Park, reported the loss of a motorcycle helmet valued at $20.11 was taken from a home in Huron Park. Several incidents of vandalisrn were also reported to police this week. Another mail box in Usborne was damaged, while several stop signs in Hensall, Huron Park and one at the junction of Highway 4 and the Crediton Road were damaged. Police point out the seriousness of the latter as it could lead to serious accidents. Lloyd Hey, Crediton, reported a stone was tossed through the back window of his car this week. Eketer OPP report they have been extremely busy since the start of the new year. They have investigated 238 occurrences in January. A total of 130 charges have been laid for liquor, traffic and criminal of- fences. Thirty-five liquor charges have been laid by police in 1975 to date. • Day said Wednesday, "the study is good but, I can't believe they can do it for that cost." The report from the OPP in- dicates that the use of provincial police in the five towns would have reduced costs by a total of about 135,000 in 1974 - $434,546 compared to the 1974 budgets of the town police totalling $469,369. "In my estimation," Chief Day said, "these figures are not anywhere close to what they ' should be". Chief Day said the report had not taken into con- sideration added costs such as overtime, transportation of prisoners and an increase of 20 percent in operating costs over 1973. Day said he was concerned about what the report terms as "regular patrols" to be made by the OPP in the towns. He said that he wondered whether "regular patrols" in- dicated the OPP would also con- duct foot patrols of the streets, property checks, enforcement of municipal parking violations and animal control calls, all services that the Exeter police force now offers. The report of OPP costs for covering the towns indicated that —it would cost them $5.000 more to. police Exeter than the Exeter force now charges. Goderich, however, would cost an es- timated $30,000 less than at present and Wingham $10,000 less. Costs for Clinton and Seaforth were roughly the same as present costs. Chief Ted Day said he did not feel that these estimates were entirely realistic or feasible. He said that the people in con- trol should also consider the time element involved in dispatching if the takeover by the OPP of all policing is implemented. Under the present system Exeter of- icers are on 24 hour call and it takes only two to three minutes for the officer to arrive at your door. Chief Day said. After office Consider charges over permit rule Building Inspector= Doug Triebner recommended this week that charges be laid against a London firm for proceeding with a project here before ac- -. euiri g.ia.kl!iding permit. Triebner said the firm. which installs siding on houses, has contravened the bylaw on a previous occasion. and had been given a warning. Council agreed to turn the matter over to• their solicitor. Similar action will not be taken against the Bank of Nova Scotia. where a remodelling project was• undertaken recently without a permit. Triebner said he felt the bank personnel "honestly didn't realize they needed a permit His report for January showed permits issued for work valued at 116.200. They were as follows: K. I. McLean. renovate attic at 296 William: Roger Martin. renovate kitchen and bathroom at 360 William: Joseph Cartel. renovate basement for rec room at 133 Sanders; Edna Simmons. install apartment in basement at 166 Sanders: Don MacGregor. renovate bathroom at 529 Wi- liam: C. E. Boyle. new ceiling at Boyle's Ladies' Wear: Gregus Construction, renovations at Ex- eter Frozen Foods: John Tzavaras, new furnace room and renovations at Burkley Restaurant: Jim Dingwell. renovations at Dingwell's Varie- ty. Alex Balazs was given a per- mit to remove a house at 456 Main St. beside Snell Bros. Ltd. Some employees return to DIL About 25 of the 99 persons laid off at Dashwood Industries plant near Centralia late in 1974 have been called back to their jobs. DI personnel manager Gerry Kading said this week the balance of these employees should be recalled shortly. Kading indicated prospects look good for an increase in the demand' for windows by spring. He said the change in interest rates would help in bringing more activity in the housing field. hours at the OPP residents re- quiring assistance from a police office would have to call a Zenith number in London and' wait for the message to be relayed to the officer on duty. Chief Day said he felt the se- cond suggestion, that the system remain as it is but with the addi- tion of a central dispatch system,' for the five town police forces "should be given careful con- sideration by County Council." Chief Day said that "it should be noted that the Ontario govern- ment pays 75 percent of the cost of installing the communications system which would leave only $37,500 to be paid by the five municipalities or 16,500 per town." Day pointed out that the pre- sent radio system is working ef- ficiently and there are no dis- patch problems. however, the difficulty lies in hiring operators and keeping the dispatch unit in each town." He said, the individual systems "inevitably have to be changed, and it is the intention of the government to have complete radio systems throughout the province." One Hundred and Second Year He added that part of the problem was that in some cen- tres too many people had access to'police information through the dispatch system and that it was in fact, a security measure,. With regard to the establish- ment of the Huron County Police force, the original recommenda- tion of the police chiefs; Chief Day said that the report in- dicated it was not feasible at this time. "The taxes are not evenly dis- tributed throughout the county", he said, "and some townships —please turn to page 3 RACING TALK — At Tuesday's Sportsmen's Dinner many sporting topics wele discussed. Above, Shelley Goudreou .folks harness racing with Ted Lamport of town. In the background is Donny Alton, Western Ontario Timmy. - -- T -A photo. EXETER, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 6,- 1975 Price Per Copy 25 Cents GOOD LISTENERS — Not.all the children who attended the story hour at the Exeter Library Tuesday mor- ning were good listeners but, they tried as Maryann Topp tells some of the 2.2 preschool children a story. Carol McDonnell (seated on the floor) also helps out at the story hour.. every Tuesday. T -A photo Consider burning ban appeal, talks on dump with neighbors Exeter council this week authorized its sanitation com- mittee to call a meeting of area municipalities to study matters of mutual concern regarding waste disposal. At the same time. it was suggested the committee make application to the ministry of the environment to get special per- mission to burn some refuse it the local dump in Hay swamp Chairman Garnet Hick reported he had attended a re- cent waste disposal conference in London and said that informa- tion gathered there had led hire to the conclusion that the local dump was in the wrong place He predicted that as soon as the ministry gets enough inspec- tors in the field. they will cer- tainly raise objections on the way the Exeter dump is being operated. He said that in London. 15.0100 gallons of sewage per day were pumped out of the land fill site and he said he wondered whe.-e the seepage goes from the Ex- eter dump. "It must go into the water table." he suggested. Hicks said he was alarmed over this situa- tion and noted that the choice of the present dump had probably not been a good one. He also explained that Exeter had no alternate sites of their .own available within the' town -limits and ibis put them at -the• mercy of their neighbours. He said he would like to see a joint meeting of area municipal officials and noted that some of them were also interested in such a meeting. tie said a site which would serve 8.000 to 10.000 people "would make a nice group of people to handle a site for". Deputy -Reeve Tom MacMillan urged the committee to arrange such a meeting within the next month. saying he would like to see the initiative for waste dis- posal solutions coming from the Two prizes gone in Lions bingo Two winners have been an- nounced in the third armchair bingo being currently operated by the Exeter Lions club. Win- ning on the four corners and four numbers around the centre were Gerald Cornish and Bob Bierling. Three numbers are being called each morning for the balance of this week and then two numbers each day for the next two weeks. The grand prize for a full card is $400. area rather than having area municipalities told by the government what had to be done. Reeve Derry Boyle and Mayor Bruce Shaw reported on a meeting they attended in Goderich last week in which they learned it was possible to appeal to the ministry to lift the ban on burning at the dump. This is possible if the burning is not causing any discomfort to neighboring residents. Shaw said that "generally speaking" there is no pollution from burning refuse at the local dump and suggested that serious consideration be given to making an appeal. When the matter came up later in the meeting. Hicks said he would check into the situation regarding an appeal. Reeve Boyle said many com- munities represented at the Goderich meeting wanted only to burn paper and wood and most noted their dumps were lobated in positions where this created few problems for neighbors. Several stiff penalties levied against drivers Several stiff fines were levied by Judge Glenn Hays when he presided over Exeter court at the town hall, Tuesday. The stiffest fine was handed out to Laurence E. Foster. Exeter who pleaded guilty to an im- paired driving charge laid on December 23. Ile was fined $250 and had his licence suspended for six months. His vehicle was observed proceeding in an erratic manner in Hensall and a breathalizer test gave a reading of 210 mgs. He had a previous conviction for the same offence, as well as a conviction for driving while disqualified. Foster was given 15 days in which to pay the fine or face an alternative of 25 days in jail. Fines of $200 each or 20 days in jail were levied against two drivers who had been charged with driving while their licence was under suspension. They were Jane Bowerman, Exeter and Norman Shawnoo, RR 2, Forest. Both drivers were also given further suspensions of six months. Ross F. Elliott. Exeter was fined $150 or 15 days and given a licence suspension of three months after pleading guilty to impaired driving. He was charged after his car was found in a ditch near Dash- wood on December 14. He was behind the wheel at the time. although no property darhage was involved. Evidence revealed he showed signs of impairment. The accused was given two months in which to pay the fine. Also charged with impaired driving was Marlene Rae Wilcox. RR 1 Crediton. She was charged on December 17 after the car she was driving was spotted with no headlights and proceeding in an erratic manner. A breathalizer test gave a reading of 190 mgs. The Crediton area woman was fined $150 or 15 days and had her licence suspended for three months. James I. Parker. Huron Park. and Lawrence Kenneth Wilcox, London were each fined S100 or 10 days after pleading guilty to charges of mischief. They were laid after the two became in- volved in an incident at the I)ufferin Hotel in Centralia on December 13. Evidence revealed the two caused damage estimated at Injury, damage toll heavy in crashes 149.64 and they had made restitution 'the night before ap- pearing in court. In other cases heard by Judge Hays, the following fines were levied: Frank DuBarry, Huron Park, was fined $53 or five days on a charge of having liquor in a place other than his residence. David T. Webster, Exeter, $43 or four days, on a charge of following another vehicle too closely. He ran into the rear of a car on December 14 when the vehicle ahead slowed to make a left turn off Main Street. Gordon H. Bierling, Exeter, $43 or four days for failing to stop at a red light in Exeter at the corner of Main and Sanders Street., Evidence revealed a woman carrying a baby had to step back out of the way of the vehicle whenit failed to stop for the light. However. no accident was in- volved. Douglas W. Eckel, Zurich, *13 or five days foreonswtning liquor while under the legal age of 18. Carl L. Triebner, RR 1, Exeter $til or eight days for causing unnecessary noisewith his car in Exeter on January 11. Evidence' revealed the car was on a local service station lot and Triebner had one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator. While the vehicle was not moving, the tires were squealing. • Leonard Hulley, RR 2, Clinton, 153 or five days for having liquor in a place other than his residence. Offer police `20 percent Negotiations are continuing between the Exeter council police committee and the Exeter Police Association. The latter represents the four constables on the local force. Monday night. police com- mittee chairman Harold Patter- son recommended that council approve a 20 percent pay boost for the police. This was approved by council, but there was no indication if it would be accepted by the Police :Association. Patterson said the agreement was complex and was "a lot of work and a lot of frustration". Ile gave no indication of when a settlement may be reached. Crediton youth badly injured A Crediton youth .remains in serious condition in University Hospital following a two -car crash at the intersection of the Crediton Road and County Read 21 early Sunday morning. SPORTSMEN'S DINNER GUESTS — The main speaker at Tuesday's Sportsmen's Dinner was Jack Donohue, Canada's national basketball coach. Above, dinner chairman Lloyd Ross, Jack Donohue, master of ceremonies Bruce Murray and chairman Murray Moore confer T -A photo Rick Bowers sustained frac- tures. concussion and internal injuries in the collision. which resulted in total damage of $5.000 to the car he was driving•and one being operated by Peter King, Peterborough. Bowers underwent heart surgery following the crash. He had been proceeding west on the Crediton Road prior to the collision, while King was nor- thbound on the County Road. The mishap occurred at 2:25 a.m. It was investigated by OPP Constable Frank Giffin. Six other people were also injured in serious crashes on area highways this week. Howard Hartley. Oil Springs, and his wife Alice, were taken to London hospital after the car in which they were riding left High- way 21 and hit a house north of St. Joseph's . The vehicle apparently skidded on an icy section of the highway went into the ditch, bounced off a tree. and then smashed into a house owned by Sopha Dalpha. v...r.v -.s,,, • Both (til Springs, residents sustained cuts, bruises. and shock. OPP Constable Bob Whiteford listed total damage to the car at $5.000 and another 15.000 damage to the house. The accident occurred at 1:15 p.m. Sunday. Two drivers involved: in an accident on the Crediton,Road at 10:40 p.m. Monday were also treated in hospital for injuries sustained. They were Harvey Lear. Tillsonburg. and B. Rene Beck, 18 of RR 1. Exeter. Both vehicles had been proceeding west on the Crediton Road when they crashed east of the County -Road 2 junction. Constable, Ed Wilcox listed total damage at 12,500. Two other people involved in a crash at 2:45 p.m. Friday required hospital treatment. They were John S. Steuer, Exeter and Rosemarie Westlake. Hensall. The latter was a passenger in the vehicle driven by Steuer, which left Highway 4 about two miles north of Exeter and hit a tree. A car operated by Wayne D. Campbell RR 1 Exeter, was also involved in the accident, although — Please turn to Page 21 tt