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Times-Advocate, 1982-03-17, Page 1Rec board increases ice rates for all groups Rental rata. for the ilrai U ice season were approved by the South Huron rec centre board of management this week. Ice rental rates will in- crease $4 per hour to $$8 for general groups and the rate for the discount groups, such as minor hockey and figure . skating, will go from 127.50 per hour to 131. • The board has set a daily rate for tournament or carnival use at $31 per hour to a maximum of 1350. The arena floor rental for such things as dances and commercial use will in-- crease n=crease 120 per day to 1270. Use of a bar with the arena floor will be 1270 as well. Hourly rate for groups using the arena floor will be $15 and minor sports teams will get it for 112 per hour. OVER YOU GO — Michelle Birmingham does a walkover with support from Lisa Rundle; one of five in- structors in the Exeter Gymnastics Club. Michelle and her fellow gymnasts were showing their parents and friends what they could do at a presentation night last Mondayot South Huron High School. Message from above Brenda Conlan received an unusual greeting when she stepped out of her mother's house at RR 3 Dashwood T114rsduy. morning. ' • A couple of balloons were banging in a tree and after retrieving them, she found a message from Pat Weidl, a grade five student at Ann W. Fox School in Hanover Park, Illinois. The message, which came down inthe tree at the home of Sadie Parsons, had been sent aloft by the students at the school during the week of March 8-12. The area ladies said they would comply with the stu- dent's request to have them send back the form on the balloon so she would know how far her message went after being sent adrift. There were originally four balloons tied to the message, but two of them had deflated. Carolyn Merner questioned whether the new rates would be competitive with other arenas and 'wag advised that they were. Chairman John Pym reported one recent meetbg between board members and the local agricultural society and said the latter didn't see how they could change the date of the annual fair oo comply with a request by local hockey and skating groups for earlier ice at the rec centre. Fair officials felt that if ice was to be installed in Sep- tember prior to the fair, a floor covering would be required. The board discussed at some length the affect the town's wage freeze is having on employees, some of whom were promised "sizeable increases" when they An era is ended An era has ended for several area homeowners. Milk delivery has been terminated. Doug Mock of Hensall said his firm had to cancel door- todoor delivery due to the changes in the market place and increased costs of delivery through gasoline and wages. Last week, . the Hensall firm ended delivery on two routes which they had covered twice a week. Affected are homeowners in Exeter, Hensall, Zurich, Dashwood and an area along Highway 21. "It hasn't paid us to do it for 'several years," . Mock told the T -A this week, ad- ding that it became even more difficult of late due to the price war being fought with milk in some of the supermarkets. He said some of the stores were selling milk for less than he could buy it for from his supplier. "When milk is your only business, you can't sell it as a loss -leader," he added. At one time, thefirm served between 500 and 600. residential customers, but the figure had dwindled: to less than 200 as more people bought at area stores. Meek said, t t ,the elderly. were among the highest number of customers remaining and their milk requirementswere limited. The firm hopes to increase its business with commercial accounts in the area so the one -member delivery staff will be able to retain his position. FIRE CONTAINED TO MATTRESS — Thanks to the quick response of Dashwood's firemen, the mattress fire at the Dashwood Hotel Friday morning was squelch- ed before it went any further. Firemen removed the burned mattress before leaving. Escapes hotel fire Careless smoking is suspected in a mattress fire in a room at the Dashwood Hotel early Friday morning. Dashwood firemen were summoned to .the hotel at 5:20 a.m. to the room oc- cupied by 22 -year-old Shannon Concannon, a bar waitress. Fire chief Don Bender said the fire was put out before it had a chance to spread to the walls. "We were lucky it didn't go any further than that," he said. Phyllis Johnson, who leases the hotel with her husband Doug from Len Veri of Exeter, said the alarm was called in by one of the tenants at the rear of the building. The Johnsons were summoned from their home near Exeter and arrived to find the firemen already on the scene. Concannon was taken to South Huron Hospital where she was given oxygen and released. She is staying with a friend in Dashwood, Johnson said. Workers from the neigh- bouring ARC Industries began the cleanup operation. Firemen had dragged the smouldering mattress out to the street before leaving. \ CLEANING UP — Teresa Klimkose and Dorothy Dakins were two of the cleaners at work at the scene of the fire in the Dashwiod Hotel Friday morning. Luckily, firemen extinguished the burning mattress before the flames spread to the walls. The occuant, Shannon Con- cannon, was not hurt. completed their ppccgbationary terms. Gary Bttminghaau said tboie terms had been completed: BW Mickle said town of- ficials would be meeting with a management consultant to discuss an overall town. policy regarding salaries and a decision in this regard could be made soon. Birmingham replied that if the consultant is hired, it could be six months before a report is tabled so the salaries could be settled. Finance committee chairperson . Carolyn Merner was advised by Mickle that' the board could set up a reserve fund for facility repairs or expansion, but said any such fund would have to be considered In relation to the total town budget. Mickle said colencll members recognized the need to look ahead to major repairs, such as the swim- ming pool, but that the, bottom line was still the total town budget and what effect any such reserve fund may have on it. Cam Stewardson suggested to the board that a support, saying he couldn't policy mental was needed to believe the chaos that give recreation and the existed when he joined the board's operation more board and said the board uniformity. handled everything in a He said every time crisis management members change sub- situation. committees they go in dif- He said the policy manual ferent directions to the should have been done and previous committee. urged the employees to work "I fully agree it Is a good on it and offer the board their thing," Muckle replied in suggestions. reference to the need for a "We'll get the ball policy manual. rolling," Stewardson Birmingham added his replied. 11111111111111.11011011 mweistemdsmitvveztematir~,15t Santa helps out again For the second year in a row, Saida Claus has made a slzeable donation to the Exeter branch of the Cancer Society. "Sant* and I have the same goal in mipd and that is to find*stere for this dead- ly dtseade," wrote -Greg Pfaff, who played a prime role in Santa's appearance at various Christmas visits to the'cotmunity this past season. - Santa asked that his con- tribution of $354 be forward- ed for cancer research for children. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed dona- tions through my Christmas project in the form of cash," Pfaff wrote. "I hope this money can be used to find a cure for this deadly disease and perhaps some day pro- long my life or the lives of my loved ones." P,N ST. PATRICK'S CELEBRATION — Today is St. Patrick's Day and these three students at St. Patrick's School at Lucan accommodated the T -A photographer Monday for a preview of the big day. From the left dressed in Irish attire airs Tara Sullivan and Lisa Foran with a statue of St. patrick, listening to ShavM' McAdam better known as Henessey Tennessey from McNamora's band tunes up his flute. T -A photo ServingSouth Huron, North Middlesex dvoca� & North Lambton Since 1873 One Hundred and Ninth Year EXETER, ONTARIO, MARCH 17, 1982 E't.: wfii Price Per Copy 50 cents res fire board budget doubles, raws .Exeter council complaints In view of having a 1982 budget more than double last year's actual expenditures, the Exeter and area fire board members agreed recently to defer the purchase of a new fire truck to 1983. Three of the four member municipalities have been con- tributing to a reserve fund for the,truck„but ityeasdecided to . delete . the 190,000. expen- diture from the 1982 budget. That budget was approved. at the board's meeting in March when Exeter's Deputy -Reeve Alvin Epp was named as chairman. It calls for expenditures of 1129,766 for the current year, com- pared to last years actual ex- penditures of 160,085. The board had budgetted for 183,300 last year. Wages are expected to con- sume $50,000 of the budget and there are two items totall- ing 122,000 each that .are basically new for this year. One is for, a new heating system, insulation and up- dating electrical service and the other is for vehicle and radio repairs, including repairs to the truck and six monitor pagers. Last year, only $7,182 was spent on vehicle and radio repairs, alpng tAith licenses, gas arejl ijmwse pe, p *pared tothisieay.teard ed cwt of - The $22,1486aet aside for the heating system and insulation project is a new item. Heat, hydro and telephone at the hall is set at 110,500 and there is 110,000 for insurance and building maintenance which includes closing in the large windows at the front of the hall to prevent heat loss. Another 110,000 has been ear -marked for equipment and protective clothing. Exeter's share of the 1982 budget is 52% for 167,478 plus $2,000 for the reserve for the new truck arid 120,700 for fire protection (hydrants) with Landlords won't have to pay the bill Exeter landlords won't be faced with the prospect of having to pay the delinquent accounts of tenants who move out and leave unpaid bills with the local PUC. Council's finance commit- tee, which had earlier in- itiated a suggestion that landlords be held responsible for the delinquent water and Get less, pay more The factors which have resulted in Exeter getting less than the average grant in- crease from the provincial government is apparently working in the opposite direc- tion in some of the bills the town is facing. At the last council meeting, finance committee chairman Bill Mickle said the town would receive a grant in- crease of only 4.91 percent from the province this year, despite an announcement from the provincial treasurer that grants to muncipalities would increaase by an average 10.9 percent. This week, Mickle reported that the assessment factors were working the opposite direction and said the town's share of the increase in the Ausable-Bayfield Conserva- tion Authority budget would be 12.17 percent, while the average increase for all municipalities in the watersh- ed is only five percent. He said the situation was of prime concern, noting that if the factors reflect the same way in the board of education budgets, the increase would be "horrendous" for Exeter ratepayers. sewer surcharge accounts, recently discussed the matter with PUC officials. The result of that discussion wasto drop the idea of pass- ing the bills on to the landlords. Chairman Bill Mickle said the discussion showed the PUC was doing an excellent job in collecting accounts and the amount of arrears was very small: However, the committee requested the two bodies have an "open door" relationship between them should arrears increase and collection become more of a problem. Mickle asked that Si Sim- mons, who had represented a delegation of landlords in the matter, be advised of the decision. Other recommendations approved from the general government committee this week included a 1250 grant to the Huron Country Playhouse at Grand Bend and that the town contribute the cost of ticket admission for any members of council wishing to attend the upcoming ban- quet of Town and Country Homemakers Thieves get chain saws Thieves made off with 60 chains saws and a van in a break and enter at Trail 'Manufacturing in Huron Park during the night on Thursday. The van was later recovered near Clandeboye, but the chain saws are still missing. The value of the stolen property has been set at $7,000. the local PUC. Usborne pays 33% or $42,823 plus $1,200 in the reserve and Stephen's share • is $11,679 or9% plus 1560 for the truck reserve. Hay pays 6% or $7,786 but does not con- tribute to the reserve fund, choosing to pay their total share at the time of purchase. Annual standing fees were adjusted for members of the fire department. With the ex- ception of the chief, none had been adjusted since 1977. Fire fighters will now get $425 per annum standing fee compared _ to the previous $350. Officers go from $500 to $750 and the deputy -chief will now be paid 11,500 from the previous figure of 1800. The chief's standing fee was in- creased by $1`,000 to 13,000. DISTRIBUTE VIAL OF LIFE — Marjorie Oke (right) gives a vial of life package to Loraine Heywood of RR 3, Exeter. Oke is one pf 40 ladies from the Hurondale and Elimville Women's Institutes delivering about 500 of the copsules in Usborne Township. Hay passes fire budget, but with some complaint Hay Township council heard a lengthy discussion on who would pay for replac- ing culverts as the council read the engineers report on the Datars-Miller municipal. drain, Monday. Engineer Bruce Holdsworth of Bartlett and Associates presented .the report which detailed.clean out and repair work on the drains between lots 6 to 8 along concessions 11 to 14. The majority of work is to be done on the main and F branch of the drain. Landowner Eric Freiter expressed concerns that the culverts on his property clot 6. concession 14) were not large enough to handle the flow from the combined F and main branches. He said he had to pay the majority of the cost when the culverts were put in in 1972. He said the wrong size had been installed then and he didn't feel he should have to pay the majority cost to put in larger size culverts now. if the job has to be done. Freiter said itshould be done correctly, He added he would not support the work if the culverts were not in- cluded. Reeve Lloyd Mousseau agreed with Freiter. He said the work would not alleviate the problems if -downstream culverts were too small to handle the flow. He noted that if Freiter rejected the , report. it would not be accepted. Holdsworth said charging the culverts to landowners along the water course was against the principles of assessment and suggested the Landowners agree to and arrange the method of pay- ment It was suggested that those attending the reading were the only landowners in- terested and a vote to pro- rate the cost based on the acreage drained he held. Council members pointed Please turn to page 3 - The firemen are paid an hourly rate for fighting fires and practice time. Question increase The size of the increase in the fire board budget was debated at some length by . Exeter council, Monday, with several members suggesting it was too high. The budget Palle usual quick approval by coun- cil and endeeup being turned over to the finatke committee for further consideration before being approved. Finance committee chair- man Bill Mickle termed the increase "astronomical" and • said that it should be serious- ly considered in this'time of restraint. He said Exeter's share of the budget would be up by $39,478 over last year, or 121. percent. He said the fire budget increase represented close to an additional seven mills on the local rate. Councillor Dorothy Chap- man questioned why the board members were recom- mending such a drastic in- crease in the stand-by time for the chief and deputy -chief. • Mayor ,Bruce Shaw, one of council's three represen- tatives on the board, explain- ed that all the firemen were way under the stipends paid in all other volunteer fore s in the area "by a considerable amount.-' Mrs. Chapman replied that in i'ie v of the economic situa- tion being faced by many local ratepayers, the budget increase appeared out of line. "Where do you cut?" Shaw asked. "There has to be places," Mrs. Chapman responded. Shaw said that sitting on both sides he didn't know where the budget could be cut After further debate, the budget was sent to the finance committee. with Reeve MacGregor, Deputy -Reeve Epp and Councillor Tom Humphreys voting in opposi- tion to that move. BUILDING COLLAPSES About one third of this building off Andrews Street in Exeter -(behind the old Froyne car lot) collapsed Friday morning. Craig Patton' who was fixing a truck nearby said it sounded like snow failing off a roof. and added it was "really wierd" to see the building collapse. The building appeared to be empty.