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Times Advocate, 1992-12-02, Page 2Page 2 Times -Advocate, December 2, 1992 wrap up Former reeve granted new trial ST. MARYS - Former West Nissouri Township reeve Peter McBimie who was convicted in 1990 of three sex-related charg- es, has been granted a new trial. According to the St. Marys Journal Argus, an Ontario ap- peal court panel consisting of. three judges set aside McBimie's convictions, including gross in- decency, indecent assault and having sex with a female young- er than 14, and ordered a new trial. In a 44 -page decision, the ap- peals court said new evidence presented at the three-day hear- ing in September might have af- fected the verdict and granted McBimie a new trial. McBimie has been out of jail on bail since the conviction in 1990. Ipperwash claimed by natives IPPERWASH - A legal pro- cess has begun which may radi- cally change the ownership of Ipperwash Beach properties. According to the Forest Stan- dard, the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation is seeking a court ruling restoring its claim to his- toric ownership of the land, a process begun two weeks ago. In total, 139 properties and more than 200 land owners are affected by the move which be- gan with the first notices of a statement of claim being served on landowners. Sixty years ago. reserve mem- bers were affered.S15 per person to sell the lend, which the crown eventually grant to private land owners. A year after the offer was made, t+ a purchaser approached the federal government claiming he didn't have the money to complete the deal. Because of this and other details, lawyers for the natives believe the trans- fer of ownership questionable, which forms the basis for the bands to contest the ownership. 10,000 chickens lost in fire HULLET TOWNSHIP - A Bullet Township farmer lost 10,000 chickens in an early morning fire last Monday morn- ing. According to the Huron Ex- positor, firefighters from the Seaforth department answered a call at 5:22 a.m. November 23 for a fire at the farm of Nick Whyte, Lot 1, Concession five, Hullet Township. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find the barn complete- ly engulfed in flames. The chicken bam was destroyed but firefighters did manage to move a tractor, four-wheel drive truck and spreader out of the way. They also saved the outlying buildings during the four hours they were at the scene. $1.3 million warehouse for Goderich GODERICH - Canadian Agra has recently announced plans for the development of a new $1.3 million bulk storage warehouse and transfer facility at the North Harbour. According to the Goderich Signal -Star. construction of the 43.000 square foot building is underway and is expected to start shipping alfalfa cubes from Kincardine by Wig. Services will be expanded to include inbound corn, potash and caveola. and outbound alfalfa cubes, distillers' dried grains and cowls email. The commodities will then be shipped to other destinations by water, road or rail. 4 X-ray technologist Bonnie Benninger shows how the computerized control panel runs virtually every function of the new x-ray equipment at South Huron Hospital. Most patients fare better than Charlie, the skeleton u$ed to test the hospital's equipment. • New hospital x-ray system Continued from front page odd coming at a thne when gov- ernment funding of hospitals is de- clining, Bowen points out that )tquipmbnt and hospital renova- tions are paid for from the capital fund - fundi which cannot be used for operating expenses "I guess (the board] thought the people in the area were worth," said Bowen, referring to the in- vestment in the new system. Visitors to the department will not only notice the sleek new x-ray tables and the "space shuttle" com- puterized control panel, but will also notice the bold new look the x-ray rooms have taken on as part of a renovation project done white the new equipment was installed. Bowen said the hospital eventuali hopes to extend the bright colours of the walls and flooring to other departments over trine. Patients may also come to rca, ize that the x-ray system is now two separate machines. A smallci floorstanding machine, that Bowen said his staff have discovered tees nearly all the capabilities of the old equipment is installed in a sec- ond room. It's "floating" flat table is ideal for certain patients and sit- uations. The larger machine is much more flexible with its cell ing-mounted x-ray tubes and a ta- Zurich area man fined $5,000 for possession of stolen plane, boat EXETER- A Zurich area man was fined a total of $5;000 on two charges of possession of stolen property in provincial court in Exeter last Tuesday. Peter W. Dansma of R.R. 1, Zurich pleaded guilty on a charge of possession of goods valued at over $1,000 and a second charge of possession of sto- len property.. The first charge involved a Spectra laser plane which was stolen from Gate - n court man -Malloy Landscaping . On June 17 of this year, Dansma attempted to sell the plane to McCann Redi-Mix. When a McCann official contacted an owner of a similar plane to assess the value before_ making the purchase, it was learned the plane was sto- len. Dansma purchased the plane for $1.500 and said he did not know it was worth 59,000 • The second charge of possession of a stolen power boat came to light on September 21 when it was discovered by OPP Constable Rick Borden up on cement blocks during a routine patrol in Zurich. Constable Borden found the serial numbers were painted over and on closer inspection was able to sec a faint outline of the proper seri- al numbers. With this information, it was consequently learned that the boat, a 1987 Thundercraft was stolen on December 21, 1990 from James Malcolm of Brantford. Since that time an insurance company has made compensation of 550,00() to Malcolm and the boat is now the property of the insurance company. Dansma admitted purchasing the boat for $4,000 from an unknown person and that it was "hot". Judge R.G.E. Hunter fined Dansma $2,000 on the first charge and 53,000 on the second or seven months in jail. He was given 12 months to pay the fines. BAC over 80 Jason 'manse of Hensall was fined 5750 and had his driving licence suspended for 12 months after pleading guilty to having a blood alco- hol count over 80 mg while operating a vehicle. He was given six months to pay. Imanse was stopped by police after going through a stop sign in Stephen township on September 22. . Driving while prohibited Judge Hunter levied a jail term of 30 days against James M. Shu - brook of 136 St. Lawrence Avenue in Huron Park for operating a ve- hicle while his licence was suspended. At 11.45 p.m. on May 15, police observed Shubrook's vehicle on Columbia Avenue in Huron Park with the muffler dragging. Upon in- vestigation it was learned he did not have a licence. Assistant Crown Attorney Chris Nelligan told the court that Shu - brook's previous record included guilty pleas for operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol on September 6, 1989 and Au- gust 29, 1990 in Huntsville and driving while his licence was sus- pen BAC over 80 Michael Horner, 142 Algonquin, Huron Park pleaded guilty to a charge of operating a vehicle while having a blood alcohol count over 80 mg. Horner was stopped at 1.20 a.m. on May 3 on Canada Avenue in Huron Park on a routine spot check and showed signs of impairment. Police said his eyes were bloodshot and his speech slimed. Breathe- lizer tests at the Exeter OPP station indicated blood alcohol levels of 270 and 280. Because Horner needs his licence for employment pur- poses sentencing was put over to January 26,1993. BAC over 80 Christopher Dayman, RR 1, Lucan was fined $750 or 35 days in jail and his licence suspended for 12 months for operating a vehicle while having a blood alcohol count over 80 mg. Dayman's vehicle went out of control and into a ditch in Usborne township at 1.20 a.m. on October 25. At the Exeter OPP station, brea- thalizer teats revealed teadinp of 160 mg at two different times. fi tile that can be rotated to an up- right position to suit patients who might not want to be laid down. The smaller machine was in- stalled first in September, meaning the hospital went without x-ray di- agnosis for only a day and a half, instead of several weeks. Bowen explains that while the overall in- stallation process was longer, it re- sulted in a better outcome. Bowen describes the x-ray de- partment as often being the "first line of defense" against disease. A tiny speck on an x-ray photograph can give a doctor a head start in fighting a disorder before it sets in. While hospitals are currently judged on their number of beds or in -patients, Bowen said that may eventually change to a system based on the number of out- patients treated or diagnosed. Smaller hospitals, like South Hu- ron, using sophisticated equipment like the x-ray system just installed, will be able to better serve thea communities health needs, and bet- ter able to quickly refer them to health care centres elsewhere. "We are fortunate to be close to London, because if we find some- thing bad here, it can be taken care of quickly by them," said Bowen. Area reeves trying for Middlesex warden title LUCAN - At Inst Tuesday's regu- lar meeting of Lucan council, reeve Toni McLaughlin invited fellow councillors to attend today, Wednesday's election of a warden in Middlesex county. McLaughlin said two reeves from municipalities close to Lucan are in the warden's race. They are Doug Shipley of Lobo township and Doug Hodgins from west Williams. The third candidate is Joe Black- more from Ekfrid township. At the same time, McLaughlin re- vealed that a new administrator has been hired by the county of Middl- lesex. He is Nigel Belchamber who has held the same position in Huron county for the past four years. The Lucan reeve added, "We are pleased to get en administratos"oski this calibre:. -]tie is well resp in the rydfs of the Ontario Ministry of Mirhicipal Affairs. We need some- one strong in this position and he will certainly bhp good for Middles- ex". Council committee to get ideas on citizen award LUCAN - Following up on a re- cent visit to Lucan council by Rev. Bruce Pocock, a committee has been set up to bring back recom- mendations on two suggestions made at that time. Pocock who recently visited Ire- land would like local officials to start negotiations for twinning with Lucan in Ireland and also has sug- gested a Citizen of the Year award be initiated in the village here. In setting up a coma -duce of reeve Tom McLaughlin and coun- cillor Rob Brady, McLaughlin said, "These are good ideas and we need to do some further work on them". On the citizenship award propo- sal, deputy reeve Harry Wraith add- ed, " We have a number of people in the village who do a lot of volun- teer work and don't get proper rec- ognition. This is a step in the right direction". Recommendations are to be brought back to the regular council meeting set for Tuesday, February 1, 1993. At the same meeting, tenders were opened for purchase of a new pickup truck for the works depart- ment. The lowest of two tenders came from Central Chev in London for $23,008.05 and was accepted. On a question from deputy reeve Harry Wraith, works superinten- dent Doug Johnston said the new truck was big enough tc handle the present sander. Dinner raised $37,000 GRAND BEND - The totals are in and the Huron Country Play- house is announcing that the dinner auction held in Exeter on October 16 raised over $37,000 to go to- wards the theatre's renovation pro- ject A sell-out crowd of 400 people packed the auditorium of the South Huron Recreation Centre that eve- ning to bid on over 200 items that ranged in value from 525 to 52.500. "The night was a tremendous suc- cess from every aspect,explained director of development Kate Bur- nett. "We raised awareness about our building campaign, had a deli cious meal, a chance to bid ui, fabulous array of donated items and everyone had a great time. "In addition, we raised almost twice as much money as we had originally estimated" Burnett attributes the success of the dinner auction to the hard work and dedication of the auction com- mittee and to the generosity of the community. "People were so kind with dona- tions and very supportive to our project. We heard over and over again about the enjoyment the thea- tre has given the community. Many of the merchants said they were pleased to be able to give something back to the theatre," said Burnett Auction co -chairpersons Jack Riddell and Jean McKenzie report, that based on the success of Octo- ber's dinner auction, year II is al- ready in the planning stages. Subsidies sought for beans Continued from front page for insurance on corn was not rep- resentative of the average price the board sells the crop for during the year. Another show of hands deter- mined that the farmers present would favour a two-stage payment on insurance if it would better re- flect the actual market price: one initial payment followed by the bal- ance once an accurate price was de- terniined. "But you'll have to understand you'll be getting your second pay- ment later than sooner," said Ken Carnochan, district director. Bill Jonigan from the Crop Insu- rance Commission said the corn - mission would keep an open mind to such suggestions as the two - payment proposal, and pointed out that the harvest average was used for corn to help producers meet contract obligations or to buy feed for cattle. White beans, he agreed, were a different example. Overall, Jonigan said the com- mission has insured 1,485 out of Ontario's 2,200 bean producers. The fund, he said, has "52.4 million dollars this year and we're going to be short". Claims on the poor bean harvest are expected to run as, high as $7 million - although that figure pales in comparison to the estimate on corn insurance which runs as high as 5150 million. "This plan is going to bc in a tre- mendous deficit," said Jonigan, not- ing that hopes of extending insu- rance coverage up to 90 percent of acreage may have to bc delayed. Jonigan, a bean producer himself, said he expected there could be sig- nificant changes to the crop insu- rance program in coming years, es- pecially since its jurisdiction and those of GRIP and NISA plans tend to overlap. "We've got these plans screwed up pretty good," commented Joni- Otherwise, said Jonigan, produc- ers may have cause to be concerned about the crop insurance program, but should be reminded that the plan will be paying out a lot of claims to them this year. He prom- ised that claims should be pro- cessed and paid almost as fast as they arc received this year. Charlie Oreadwei (top), general manager Of the Ontario Bean Produoers Marketing Board, de- livers the good and bad news to the membership ial,o attended the District 4 meeting held In Varna Monday evening.