Times-Advocate, 1988-01-06, Page 1Ames
Serving South Huron, North Middlesex
One Hundred and Seventeenth Year
dvocate
& North Lambton Since 1873
EXETER, ONTARIO, January 6, 1988
Price Per Copy 60 Cents
Council sticks to planning decision
A Monday night visit from two
representatives of the Ontario Mini-
stry of Municipal Affairs failed to
sway an earlier decision by Exeter
council to oppose a plan to change
the Delegation regarding some plan-
ning matters from the province to
the county.
Norma Forrest and Anna Delesan-
dra of the Ministry explained the
reasons why the final decisions on
subdivision and condominium ap-
provals, part -lot control and road
closings should be made at the
county level instead of the prov-
ince.
Councillor Ben Hoogenboom told
the Ministry officials, "I'm suspi-
Shaw. will y be Sandi ate for mayor
or
m fall r muni al .election
••
a community purchased land for ec- see massive changes and "tax reduc-
onomic growth and. at \the same tions" Seriously I believe we will
time had a record year in building see only minor tax increases, as in
permits. More money was, spent on the last few years."
hard and soft services this year than
in any previous year."
"We also bore witness to a unique -
spirit of co-operation between Exet-
er and our neighbours. I am speak-
ing of the recently approved fire arca
agreement. We also•moved closer to
anequitable sharing of recreation
cosLs. A particular fine moment was
the burning of the mortgage on the
Olde Town Hall."
About the coming year, Shaw
said, " This is an election year and
it goes without saying that we will
At Monday's inaugaral meeting of
Exeter council for the year 1988,
Mayor Bruce Shaw indicated he will
be a candidate for the same position
when municipal elections roll
around in November Of this year.
Shaw continued, " We usually
wait until fall to declare our inten-
tions, but I want you to know to-
night that I will be trying for anoth-
er term as mayor. Believing that I
have not outlived my usefulness and
that I am still enthusiastic about -the
job, I am advising you that- I will
be seeking re-election in November,
God willing."
The mayor went on to say,
1987 was significant in that we, as
'We will continue to provide
leadership a' a council in the im-
provement of services and promo-
tion of industrial, commercial and
residential expansion along with
improved rclatidns=with the town-
ships and perhaps even with the
county", concluded the mayor.
Shaw noted the loss of T -A editor
Bill .Batten had cast a shadow over
the year. At the conclusion of the
meeting, all present observed a min-
ute's silence in Batten's memory.
• .
VOWEL HUNT - Gerard Creces (left), Lori Hunter, Nicole Turkheim, and Bradley Turkheim pool their resources
• in finding the number of vowels in the fragments of nursery rhymes they matched up with their partners during the
children's hour at -the Zurich library.
Write-off total lowest in years
This year's write-offs on uncol-
Iectabie hydro bills was the lowest
in 10 years, PUC manager Hugh
Davis informed the regular Decem-
ber meeting of the commission.
The total of $644.92 compares
very favourably with the $1112.02
wiped off the books thc previous
year, or the $1,798.18 in 1985. The
figures of $2,847 in- 1982 and
52,553.49 in 1980 were probably
reflections of thc mini -recession of
the early '80s.
Davis was also happy to report
that at the cnd of the year, after the
thousands of dollars that pass
through the hands of the PUC office
personnel, the books were out $2.
Haugh becomes
T -A editor
ROSS HAUGH
Effective with thisAfeek's issue
of the Times -Advocate Ross
Haugh will become editor. • '
Jaugh, formerly assistant editor
has been with the T -A for the
past 23 years. He heads a news
team which includes himself,
'Yvonne Reynolds, Mark Bisset
old Adrian Harte.
Five gas tenders were opened, and
the lowest was accepted. Rowe
Fuels will give a 4.1 cent discount
per Iitre.on the pump price of both
regular and unleaded fuel.
Davis told the commission that
the PUC had decorated the Christ-
mas tree set up by a group of citi-
zens in the north end of town next
to the beer store. Commissioner .
Harry De Vries commended- the
PUC employes who put up and
maintained thc decorations along
Main Street.
Davis expressed amazement that
the windstorm on December 15 left
Exeter relatively unscathed, and
with no breaks in hydro service.
PUC equipment was hired to re-
move the tree that crashed onto the
roof of the Wayne Tuckey home.
Noting the number of trees that
were uprooted in .the surrounding
townships, Davis said "I never saw
anything like it in my life'.
Commissioners-deided to Ict Wa-
ter service continue to the Bel -Mor
Farms property. A previous com-
mission had allowed the extension
of a water service from the town
section of the property fronting on
To perpetuate
Batten memory
A memorial fund to perpetuate the
name of the late T -A editor Bill Bat-
ten has been set up by the town of
Exeter.
Tax deductible'receipts for $10 or
more will be issued by the town of-
fice.
A plaque will be put up at the.
South Huron Rec Centre in honour
of Batten's many contributions to
minor hockey and the arena, both
old and new. -,
The exact use of the monies will
be determined later by the family,
but will be for .minor hockey in
• ome way.
Thames Road to the remaining sec-
tion situated in Hay township.
Novti the property in the township
is being severed, and the buyers
want assurance the supply of town
water will continue.
Commissioners agreed with
Mayor Bruce Shaw's opinion that
the initial mistake was made in
1958, and it would be inappropriate
to cut off a service that had been
given for 30 years.
Nabisco Foods will be asked to
draw up a new agreement to contin-
ue renting space on the elevated wa-
fer tank for, their aerial. The rent
will remain at $350 annually.
cious you have already made up
your mind to have the county make
the decisions."
To this Forrest replied, "We are
confident that the county can make
decisions on good planning policies
and we will make the Minister
aware of all views of all municipali-
ties."
When Forrest said, " We want to
make sure you know all the facts,
Hoogcnboom was quick to reply, "
I'm not concerned about us knowing
the facts, but, do you know them?"
The planned Delegation would
have all county councillors vote on
the final decision on subdivision
matters on recommendations made
by county planners.
The original letter of opposition
from the town of Exeter voiced con-
cerns that the county level may not
be sufficiently sensitive to the needs
of any one municipality to do the •
planning for it and potential for
conflicting objectives among ad-
joining municipalities. "How can
one person serve two masters?"
Dorothy Chapman asked, "We
have two good representatives at the
county level . in Bill (Mickle) and
Lossy (Fuller), but what skills do
they have in making this type of de-
cision? That's why we have plan-
ners."
To this mayor Shaw added, " We
have confidence in your Ministry,
but may not have in a body closer
to us."
He continued, " County council-
lors won't know much about what
they arc voting for. In this instance
they would likely vote according to
leadership provided by county plan-
ners. This would open up many
mistakes and cause animosity and
possibly costly OMB hearing"
Forrest replied, "There are lots oT
safeguardsbuilt into the dispute res-
olution mechanism to protect you."
Fuller's comments were," You
expect us to make decisions on a
subdivision agreement in Wingham.
That's 60 miles away. We would
have to get involved in other com-
raittcc's work. We arc not planners,
so would have to go with their rec-
ommendations. We would just be -
rubber stamping their decision."
When the Ministry people said
there would only be three or four
applications a ycar, Micklc replied,
"This seems to be a lot of hassle for
that amount of . anolications.The
planners not only look after the
county plan, but do the planning
legwork for all Huron municipali-
ties. You have thc same people do-
ing everything. That puts power
into the hands of a few. If you don't
want to make the decisions, let us
do it."
To this Delasandra said, " You
can't approve your own planning."
A quick replyin chorus came
from Hoogcnboom, Josephson,
Chapman and Micklc, " That's ex-
actly what will happen when you
ask thc county to do it."
Mayor Shaw said to the two la-
dies, Seriously, you don't know
what's going on hcre.Have you read
the London Frcc Press and the coun-
ty papers.?"
Regarding voting on county
council recommendations, Mickle
said, " We have no checks and bal-
ances. We get recommendations
when we get there in the morning
and arc expected to vote shortly af-
terward with little understanding of
the background."
SHARING THE FLAME -- Rick Abel of Aisle Craig carries the
Olympic torch during his portion of the torch relay just south of Wat-
ford on Highway 79 Sunday morning. Abel was one of many local torch
bearers who participated in the run as it wound its way through this
part of the country. Carolynn Lankin, Tanya Deville, Cindy Moore and
Jan Steele were also among the torch carrying crew which transport-
ed the flame across Ontario over the Christmas holidays. Deville will
be going on to Calgary to take part in the opening ceremonies of the
Winter Olympics.
.01
Farewell t
By Mayor Bruce Shaw
'The friendship ends now.' These
words were said by Bill Batten al-
most 14 years ago after I was elect-
ed Mayor of Exeter. Of course, the
friendship didn't end, and he still did
his job as editor. Many barbs were
sent flying in my direction and the
direction of Council, but we as offi-
cials
fficials respected Bill's comments, his
constructive criticism and his good
ideas.
As editor, Bill did a great deal to
draw the attention of the public to
the affairs of the Town and the sur-
rounding townships. He used all the
devices possible to attract reader in-
terest and win the one-man war
against public apathy. No topic was
too great to handle, but thc sensitiv-
ity and concern will be found only
rarely in other local papers.
I am certain on many occasions,
Bill presented 'news' that was tem-
pered by his spirit so that some of
us would not appear as ridiculous as
we sounded. He often seemed to
ask, "What useful purpose would be
served if I quote that individual ver-
batim?" Yet, in spite of him, there
aro many incidents when I'm sure
we wish we hadn't said what we did.
As a member of his community,
Bill was very active in minor hock-
ey. His imagination found an outlet
in a mock newspaper article, for in -
11 students back under one roof
For the first time in the current
school year, all 455 students attend-
ing Exctcr Public School arc back
under one roof. Grades 7 and 8
moved back to their regular class-
rooms on Monday from temporary
accommodation at SHDHS. Teach-
ers spent part of the Christmas holi-
days getting the rooms ready.
The students were relocated in five
arca facilities when the school was
badly damaged by arson a few days
before the scheduled opening in
September.
Grades one, two, three and four
came back from the rec centre on
October 19. Kindergarten and grade
five mijt+ed out of the Anglican and
United Churches and into their EPS
classrooms on November 19. Grade
sizers returned to their school on
January 4, after being housed in the
Pentecostal church for four months.
Principal Al Taylor said the stu-
dent body gathered together before
Christmas to sing some carols.
His announcement that the two sen-
ior grades ' euld finally be joining
their fellov students was greeted
with a loud beer.
The advantages of returning to
their regular classrooms outweighed
the tenuous prestige of mingling for
awhile with the high school stu-
dents as far as the grade seven and
eight students were concerned. •
'They were ready to come back.
Grade cight is an important year for
planning the future", Taylor re-
marked.
Although all the regular class-
rooms are now in use, the school
will not be operating normally until
February. By then, Taylor expects
renovations will have been complet-
ed and the general purpose special cd
and computer room, the main ad-
ministrative and secretarial offices, .
the teachers' staff room and the li-
brary will again be in service.
Once the library books which
'were sent to Toronto to be pro-
cessed for computurized borrowing
and circulation are back on the
shelves, the teachers will again.take
over their former staff room, and
Taylor and the administrative staff
will pack up and move into their re-
built offices.
The last task on the list is the
grinding of the terrazzo floors to re -
o a friend
move the "grungy" surface caused
by smoke, and restore the. floors to
their former lustre. That messy job
will be done during the March
break.
"It has been a fairly quick renova-
tion program, and we ended up with
some structural changes and a newly
decorated school". Taylor said. tic
credits the excellent cooperation
from the contractors, the plant
maintenance personnel, the school
staff, and the surrounding communi-
ty for the smooth and speedy re-
sponse to an emergency situation,
and for all that has been accom-
• plished since the fire.
Reflecting On what that has hap-
pened since he was appointed as
principal to succeed Jim Chapman,
Taylor said the 1987-88 school year
has been challenging.
"Everything one does normally (at
the beginning of a school year) was
thrown back to meet the crisis",
Taylor said. Running a school in
five locations was the most difficult
aspect of the fire's aftermath.
Taylor's first goal now is to get
to know all his students.
stance, when the Exeter Waxers de-
feated the Montreal Canadians in an
exhibition ganic. During the centen-
nial in 1973, Bill has to be given
much credit for its success. Ile
worked hard in promoting the idca,
and he worked hard physically - I re-
member the chicken barbecue in
particular. There was little that es-
caped hire, and much he offered.
As a friend, many of us came to
respect his judgement and his ad-
vice. Although he was often quiet
and apparently reserved, he would
often offer an opinion or express a
point of view that may have been
contrary to popular thinking. }lis
generosity and sense of humour of-
ten made life a little more enjoya-
hlc, a little more tolerable during
trying times.
Bill experienced considerable ad-
versity in his Iifc, but his spirits
were upbeat, his 'acceptance almost
inspirational, but his greatest joy,
I'm certain, centered on his wife,
Barb, who was a rock of support
throughout this ordeal and his foil('
boys, Scott, Steve, Brett and B.J.
who arc tremendous kids with great.
memories of Thea father. Their :as.;
is our loss, but Bill wants all of us
to 'carry on', and we will.
Thanks, Bill, it was a pleasure
knowing you.
• Arctic visitors
• Building boom 5
• Plan Pinery burn 9
Hardy Cup schedules... 12
• Stephan tournaments... 15
• Local barley wins 17