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Times Advocate, 1989-11-01, Page 1Branch 167 Poppy Drive Wed., Nov. 1st Starts at 6:30 p.m Lest we forget Gaiser- : ' eale Insurance Exeter 235-2420 Grand Bend 238-8484 Hensall 262-2607 Clinton 482-9747 North Middlesex & Lambton 110(),17& ESQ /l / Q P9 Beyond control - The Crediton firemen were only able to direct their efforts to saving surrounding buildings at the the ninth concession on Friday. The blaze engulfed the barn and caused the loss of more than 300 pigs. 300 pigs perish in blaze STEPHEN TWP. - A township farmer lost his entire swine opera- tion in a Friday morning barn fire that destroyed not only :the barn, but 300 pigs along with it. The eight-year-old daughter of Dennis and Marian • Pfaff was the first to notice that the barn on the concession 9 family farm was en- gulfed in flames at 8:30 a.m. It is possible any smoke preceding the blaze might have gone unnoticed in the foggy weather. By the time the Crediton fire de- partment arrived on the scene they said they could do little except keep the flames from spreading to the adjacent silos and feed bin. Firc Chief Norm Hyde said the crews were able to spray water on the silos continually by drawing on tankers sent from the Huron Park and Dashwood units and he is con- fident at least one of the two silos has its corn stock intact. ' More than 300 pigs, including 30 breeder stock, were trapped in the L-shaped barn where they perished. Only a handful escaped the build- ing. While no estimate on the Value of the lost animals is yet available, Hyde said the complete destruction of the barn suggested a loss of be- tween $100,000 and S150,000 on the structure alone. The investigation into the cause morning barn fire on of the blaze continues. PUC faclng rising costs A• EXETER - Manager Hugh Da- the next two years. vis had the unhappy duty of in- Davis explained that Ontario forming commissioners of rising Hydro has also altered its way of costs in almost every sector at the computing charges. It now con- ' October meeting. of the PUC. , centrates on kilowatt hours, while "A shocker" was the way Davis before the way load demand was described Ontario Hydro's rate utilized was of great importance. revision, which will boost the Utilities such as Exeter with high *. utility's power bills by 6.9 per- load factors did well under the old cent in 1990. The Ontario Ener- system, but will pay more under gy Board had recommended a the new. small increase in 1990, but this Davis does not know yet how would have caused a revenue this will affect Exeter customers. shortfall next year Which would He is still working on the budget, then be offset with a big increase which is submitted to Ontario Hy - in 1991. Adding on the proposed dro before rates are set for Exet- 9 percent federal GST, utilities er's commercial and residential us- cottld have faced a 20 percent ers. hike in 1991. All parties agreed To add to the woes, the Ontario to spread out these boosts over government is charging the giant corporation an additional two per- cent for the forseeable future for the preferential treatment it re- ceives from lenders because of the province's triple A credit rating. The London PUC has notified its Exeter counterpart that the rate for providing billing services will go up from 410 per bill to 52.20 effective January 1. Davis has also written a letter of protest to CN's real estate divi- sion, asking why rent for the Commission's hydro line along the CNR right of way has gone from $450 in 1984 to $2,022 next year. All these increases come out of the pocket of the ordinary cus- tomer. No BIA GRAND BEND - Grand Bend will not have a business improve- ment area in the village anytime soon. Business people in the village overwhelmingly rejected a propo- sal that would have started a B1A in Grand Bend at a special meeting Thursday night, at the Pinedale Motel, set up by the Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the meeting was to answer all ques- for Grand Bend tions concerning a BIA and vote on the matter. Council was set to pass a bylaw that would have created a BIA at the October 3 regular meeting, but a delegation headed up by Lloyd Guillett, Norm Johnson and Keith Hoggart asked council to delay its decision because they felt the prop- er procedure for starting one was not followed and not enough peo- ple knew what a BIA could do. The delegation asked council to delay passing the bylaw until an in- formation meeting could be held, which is what happened Thursday night. People who owned businesses and were on the 1989 assessment list were given one vote, with 52 rejecting it, and 19 in favor. Village reeve Bob Sharen, who attended the Thursday session as a PleaQe tum to page 3 RPOs don't threaten local post offices, officials say LONDON - The decision to add retail postal outlets (RPOs) in Exeter, Grand Bend and Lucan only repre- sents an expansion of present services and is not a means of eliminating Post Office operations in those municipalities, said Tom Creech, Canada Post spokes- man. Rural Dignity and some municipalities have suggest- ed the introduction of RPOs is the first step in removt ing full postal service from a community. Canada Post began advertising for applications for retail postal outlets in Exeter, Grand Bend and Lucan a few weeks ago, but it will take up to five months be- fore they are in operation. "We want to expand the hours of available postal service in those communities," said Creech, who went on to say that after-hours counter service in evenings or on weekends usually lends itself to current conven- ience store or pharmacy businesses. Creech said postal services arc to be treated like any other product and RPOs are simply a way of increas- ing their accessibility in the marketplace. "It's a product to be retailed," said Creech. "It's a product to be marketed." Exeter was recently switched over to super mailbox delivery and Creech called this an example of im- proved service. The Times Advocate has, however, received com- plaints about the boxes from customers who find de- livery of their newspaper is now delayed until early af- ternoon on Wednesdays. Before the change, it was possible to pick up the paper at the post office first thing in the morning. "We've got no plans to make any changes in the cor- poration -run facilities in Lucan, Grand Bend and Exet- er," said Creech. When asked if there were any financial benefits de- rived from RPOs, Creech acknowledged labour costs were cheaper at local stores. "There are savings involved in making use of the pri- vate sector," he said. Concerns over the future of postal service in St. Mar- ys and Seaforth won't apply in this arca, assured Creech. Both post offices in those communities are owned by Public Works Canada, who is currently con- sidering their sale, leaving Canada Post without a loca- tion. Creech said they may have to resort to RPO -only service if no other solution is found. Where two offices are located close together, geogra- phy is a factor in the future of that service, explained Creech. Centralia is currently in the process of being switched over to RPO service with Huron Park remain- ing the corporate office. A 90 -day consultation period is in effect in Centralia, and Canada Post is surveying residents to see if they prefer mail delivery to be handled by the RPO or sent to super mailboxes. Creech said the switch to an RPO is usually done when a "natural opportunity" arises, usually when a postmaster retires. "Rural Dignity has accused Canada Post of having a hit list of communities," said Creech. "There's no such thing." Six situations have arisen in the Huron District (cov- ering all of western Ontario) where post offices couldn't be replaced when a hamlet's general store closed. One local example is Staffa, which is now served by Dublin, with mail delivered from Mitchell. Creech contrasted that with 12 communities that have gained from thc opening of new offices. He said the automatic closure of offices in hamlets that disappeared in the 1970s are a thing of the past. "That's just not happening any more," he stated. Being forced out of the action doesn't sit well with Riddell By Bob Reid EXETER - Jack Riddell has nev- er been the type to go quietly into the dark night when faced with de- Losing his job as Ontario's agrir culture minister was a defeat. Since being dismissed from the pbst during a major cabinet shuffle by Premier David Peterson on Au- gust 2 he has searched, without suc- cess, for a reason for the move. And until he is given one, the for- mer auctioneer with the booming voice and outgoing manner is not likely to remain silent about losing the post he held for four years. "i was never given a reason," said Mr. Riddell. All the premier would tell him was that he was "really sor- ry." To add insult to injury, the Huron MPP was gathered with his peers at a provincial agriculture ministers' conference in Western Canada when he was informed that he no longer represented Ontario agricul- ture. "It (dismissal) came as a com- plete surprise." His initial response was to let the matter drop for a couple of months to see if any explanation was forth- ,-:IFN`f.r .ut.... Mr_ Ri,J,Jpjl. When none appeared, he decided to seek out his longtime political ally, provincial treasurer Bob Nixon, the man he credits with getting him in- volved with politics before winning the Huron County riding over 16 years ago. "I said I was entitled to know the reason for my political demise," re- called Mr. Riddell of that meeting two weeks ago. Unfortunately, Mr. Nixon could not enlighten him, say - "I was a thorn in the flesh of the government." ing only that he had not been con- sulted on the move, that he had nothing to do with it and that he had received hundreds of letters asking the same question. A short time later, Mr. Riddell was summoned to the premier's of - r,. -, ,;;,1 chide any of the answers Mr. Rid- dell was searching for. "He (Peterson) couldn't give any rea- sons so I started to put reasons to him. "I assumed it had to be political," continued Mr. Riddell. He now feels that his persistent haranguing in the legislature on behalf of the agriculture community finally led to his downfall. During his tenure, more than 100 new agriculture programs were in- troduced to Ontario including the popular Ontario Family Farm inter- est Rate Reduction (OFFIR) pro- gram which was recently cancelled. Also, he wonders if the pressure he exerted for a provincial land use policy to protect agricultural prop- erty got in the way of politically - powerful urban developers. He fears, the future of that policy as well as the food supply of future generations could be in jeopardy. "I was a thorn in the flesh of the government," admitted Mr. Riddell, adding he always "fniighi,hard for a, piece of the pie" when provincial budgets were brought down. His willingness to cross political boundaries when making appoint - "l said I was entitled to know the reason for my political demise." merits may have crossed a few peo- ple within his own party, said Mr. Riddell. "I always tried to recog- nize talent despite politics." He mentioned his appointment of Del O'Brien, originally appointed by the Conservatives, as chairman of the provincial farm drainage tri- bunal. "My successor vetoed that appointment," he noted of the new agriculture minister; Temiskaming MPP'David Ramsay, adding the fi- nal decision might not have been He speculated that Mr. Ramsay's appointment may be an attempt by the premier to bolster support in Northern Ontario. But he questions that logic while western Ontario re- mains the "Heartland of Ontario ag- riculture."- He said Mr. Ramsay phoned him shortly after his appointment for advice on some of the more contro- versial issues and the new minister remarked that he couldn't believe the complexity of the ministry. For- merly a dairy, bccf and cash crop farmer Mr. Ramsay has served as parliamentary assistant to Premier Peterson and as Minister of Correc- tional Services. The two men have a good work- ing relationship, according to Mr. Riddell. The farming community was very appreciative of his accom-- plishments and judging by the let- ters he has received, many arc un- happy he is no longer the top man at Queen's Park, said Mr. Riddell. �TGt�fil,Ftwin,Irt was released." Mr. Riddell said his popularity was not gained by always handing out money to solve agricultural woes. When torrential rains flooded Essex County farms this past sum- mer the easiest thing- would have been to say -the government would step in and cover crop losses. That would have destroyed the integrity of .crop insurance, suggested Mr. Riddell, a program he is highly sup- portive of. "How could 1 hand out money in Essex when the farmers in my own riding have been. through three years of dry weather?" Like any job that ends suddenly, Mr. Riddell was left with work un- finished. Ile cited thc move of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) hcad office from Please turn to page 3 Inside Foster parents Rewards make it worth the challenge page 3 Portrait photographer More than just saying ."cheese" page 5 Blood donor clinic Red Cross, Nomads, pleased with turnout page 6 New group Pathfinders formed in Grand Bend page 14 Field hockey Panther. girls win WOSSA page 17 Crop report Another year of low yields page 30 110(),17& ESQ /l / Q P9 Beyond control - The Crediton firemen were only able to direct their efforts to saving surrounding buildings at the the ninth concession on Friday. The blaze engulfed the barn and caused the loss of more than 300 pigs. 300 pigs perish in blaze STEPHEN TWP. - A township farmer lost his entire swine opera- tion in a Friday morning barn fire that destroyed not only :the barn, but 300 pigs along with it. The eight-year-old daughter of Dennis and Marian • Pfaff was the first to notice that the barn on the concession 9 family farm was en- gulfed in flames at 8:30 a.m. It is possible any smoke preceding the blaze might have gone unnoticed in the foggy weather. By the time the Crediton fire de- partment arrived on the scene they said they could do little except keep the flames from spreading to the adjacent silos and feed bin. Firc Chief Norm Hyde said the crews were able to spray water on the silos continually by drawing on tankers sent from the Huron Park and Dashwood units and he is con- fident at least one of the two silos has its corn stock intact. ' More than 300 pigs, including 30 breeder stock, were trapped in the L-shaped barn where they perished. Only a handful escaped the build- ing. While no estimate on the Value of the lost animals is yet available, Hyde said the complete destruction of the barn suggested a loss of be- tween $100,000 and S150,000 on the structure alone. The investigation into the cause morning barn fire on of the blaze continues. PUC faclng rising costs A• EXETER - Manager Hugh Da- the next two years. vis had the unhappy duty of in- Davis explained that Ontario forming commissioners of rising Hydro has also altered its way of costs in almost every sector at the computing charges. It now con- ' October meeting. of the PUC. , centrates on kilowatt hours, while "A shocker" was the way Davis before the way load demand was described Ontario Hydro's rate utilized was of great importance. revision, which will boost the Utilities such as Exeter with high *. utility's power bills by 6.9 per- load factors did well under the old cent in 1990. The Ontario Ener- system, but will pay more under gy Board had recommended a the new. small increase in 1990, but this Davis does not know yet how would have caused a revenue this will affect Exeter customers. shortfall next year Which would He is still working on the budget, then be offset with a big increase which is submitted to Ontario Hy - in 1991. Adding on the proposed dro before rates are set for Exet- 9 percent federal GST, utilities er's commercial and residential us- cottld have faced a 20 percent ers. hike in 1991. All parties agreed To add to the woes, the Ontario to spread out these boosts over government is charging the giant corporation an additional two per- cent for the forseeable future for the preferential treatment it re- ceives from lenders because of the province's triple A credit rating. The London PUC has notified its Exeter counterpart that the rate for providing billing services will go up from 410 per bill to 52.20 effective January 1. Davis has also written a letter of protest to CN's real estate divi- sion, asking why rent for the Commission's hydro line along the CNR right of way has gone from $450 in 1984 to $2,022 next year. All these increases come out of the pocket of the ordinary cus- tomer. No BIA GRAND BEND - Grand Bend will not have a business improve- ment area in the village anytime soon. Business people in the village overwhelmingly rejected a propo- sal that would have started a B1A in Grand Bend at a special meeting Thursday night, at the Pinedale Motel, set up by the Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the meeting was to answer all ques- for Grand Bend tions concerning a BIA and vote on the matter. Council was set to pass a bylaw that would have created a BIA at the October 3 regular meeting, but a delegation headed up by Lloyd Guillett, Norm Johnson and Keith Hoggart asked council to delay its decision because they felt the prop- er procedure for starting one was not followed and not enough peo- ple knew what a BIA could do. The delegation asked council to delay passing the bylaw until an in- formation meeting could be held, which is what happened Thursday night. People who owned businesses and were on the 1989 assessment list were given one vote, with 52 rejecting it, and 19 in favor. Village reeve Bob Sharen, who attended the Thursday session as a PleaQe tum to page 3 RPOs don't threaten local post offices, officials say LONDON - The decision to add retail postal outlets (RPOs) in Exeter, Grand Bend and Lucan only repre- sents an expansion of present services and is not a means of eliminating Post Office operations in those municipalities, said Tom Creech, Canada Post spokes- man. Rural Dignity and some municipalities have suggest- ed the introduction of RPOs is the first step in removt ing full postal service from a community. Canada Post began advertising for applications for retail postal outlets in Exeter, Grand Bend and Lucan a few weeks ago, but it will take up to five months be- fore they are in operation. "We want to expand the hours of available postal service in those communities," said Creech, who went on to say that after-hours counter service in evenings or on weekends usually lends itself to current conven- ience store or pharmacy businesses. Creech said postal services arc to be treated like any other product and RPOs are simply a way of increas- ing their accessibility in the marketplace. "It's a product to be retailed," said Creech. "It's a product to be marketed." Exeter was recently switched over to super mailbox delivery and Creech called this an example of im- proved service. The Times Advocate has, however, received com- plaints about the boxes from customers who find de- livery of their newspaper is now delayed until early af- ternoon on Wednesdays. Before the change, it was possible to pick up the paper at the post office first thing in the morning. "We've got no plans to make any changes in the cor- poration -run facilities in Lucan, Grand Bend and Exet- er," said Creech. When asked if there were any financial benefits de- rived from RPOs, Creech acknowledged labour costs were cheaper at local stores. "There are savings involved in making use of the pri- vate sector," he said. Concerns over the future of postal service in St. Mar- ys and Seaforth won't apply in this arca, assured Creech. Both post offices in those communities are owned by Public Works Canada, who is currently con- sidering their sale, leaving Canada Post without a loca- tion. Creech said they may have to resort to RPO -only service if no other solution is found. Where two offices are located close together, geogra- phy is a factor in the future of that service, explained Creech. Centralia is currently in the process of being switched over to RPO service with Huron Park remain- ing the corporate office. A 90 -day consultation period is in effect in Centralia, and Canada Post is surveying residents to see if they prefer mail delivery to be handled by the RPO or sent to super mailboxes. Creech said the switch to an RPO is usually done when a "natural opportunity" arises, usually when a postmaster retires. "Rural Dignity has accused Canada Post of having a hit list of communities," said Creech. "There's no such thing." Six situations have arisen in the Huron District (cov- ering all of western Ontario) where post offices couldn't be replaced when a hamlet's general store closed. One local example is Staffa, which is now served by Dublin, with mail delivered from Mitchell. Creech contrasted that with 12 communities that have gained from thc opening of new offices. He said the automatic closure of offices in hamlets that disappeared in the 1970s are a thing of the past. "That's just not happening any more," he stated. Being forced out of the action doesn't sit well with Riddell By Bob Reid EXETER - Jack Riddell has nev- er been the type to go quietly into the dark night when faced with de- Losing his job as Ontario's agrir culture minister was a defeat. Since being dismissed from the pbst during a major cabinet shuffle by Premier David Peterson on Au- gust 2 he has searched, without suc- cess, for a reason for the move. And until he is given one, the for- mer auctioneer with the booming voice and outgoing manner is not likely to remain silent about losing the post he held for four years. "i was never given a reason," said Mr. Riddell. All the premier would tell him was that he was "really sor- ry." To add insult to injury, the Huron MPP was gathered with his peers at a provincial agriculture ministers' conference in Western Canada when he was informed that he no longer represented Ontario agricul- ture. "It (dismissal) came as a com- plete surprise." His initial response was to let the matter drop for a couple of months to see if any explanation was forth- ,-:IFN`f.r .ut.... Mr_ Ri,J,Jpjl. When none appeared, he decided to seek out his longtime political ally, provincial treasurer Bob Nixon, the man he credits with getting him in- volved with politics before winning the Huron County riding over 16 years ago. "I said I was entitled to know the reason for my political demise," re- called Mr. Riddell of that meeting two weeks ago. Unfortunately, Mr. Nixon could not enlighten him, say - "I was a thorn in the flesh of the government." ing only that he had not been con- sulted on the move, that he had nothing to do with it and that he had received hundreds of letters asking the same question. A short time later, Mr. Riddell was summoned to the premier's of - r,. -, ,;;,1 chide any of the answers Mr. Rid- dell was searching for. "He (Peterson) couldn't give any rea- sons so I started to put reasons to him. "I assumed it had to be political," continued Mr. Riddell. He now feels that his persistent haranguing in the legislature on behalf of the agriculture community finally led to his downfall. During his tenure, more than 100 new agriculture programs were in- troduced to Ontario including the popular Ontario Family Farm inter- est Rate Reduction (OFFIR) pro- gram which was recently cancelled. Also, he wonders if the pressure he exerted for a provincial land use policy to protect agricultural prop- erty got in the way of politically - powerful urban developers. He fears, the future of that policy as well as the food supply of future generations could be in jeopardy. "I was a thorn in the flesh of the government," admitted Mr. Riddell, adding he always "fniighi,hard for a, piece of the pie" when provincial budgets were brought down. His willingness to cross political boundaries when making appoint - "l said I was entitled to know the reason for my political demise." merits may have crossed a few peo- ple within his own party, said Mr. Riddell. "I always tried to recog- nize talent despite politics." He mentioned his appointment of Del O'Brien, originally appointed by the Conservatives, as chairman of the provincial farm drainage tri- bunal. "My successor vetoed that appointment," he noted of the new agriculture minister; Temiskaming MPP'David Ramsay, adding the fi- nal decision might not have been He speculated that Mr. Ramsay's appointment may be an attempt by the premier to bolster support in Northern Ontario. But he questions that logic while western Ontario re- mains the "Heartland of Ontario ag- riculture."- He said Mr. Ramsay phoned him shortly after his appointment for advice on some of the more contro- versial issues and the new minister remarked that he couldn't believe the complexity of the ministry. For- merly a dairy, bccf and cash crop farmer Mr. Ramsay has served as parliamentary assistant to Premier Peterson and as Minister of Correc- tional Services. The two men have a good work- ing relationship, according to Mr. Riddell. The farming community was very appreciative of his accom-- plishments and judging by the let- ters he has received, many arc un- happy he is no longer the top man at Queen's Park, said Mr. Riddell. �TGt�fil,Ftwin,Irt was released." Mr. Riddell said his popularity was not gained by always handing out money to solve agricultural woes. When torrential rains flooded Essex County farms this past sum- mer the easiest thing- would have been to say -the government would step in and cover crop losses. That would have destroyed the integrity of .crop insurance, suggested Mr. Riddell, a program he is highly sup- portive of. "How could 1 hand out money in Essex when the farmers in my own riding have been. through three years of dry weather?" Like any job that ends suddenly, Mr. Riddell was left with work un- finished. Ile cited thc move of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) hcad office from Please turn to page 3