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Times Advocate, 1993-08-11, Page 1lth Bouquets 4.,►, 6, COUNTRY flvw'Ekzs Exeter G•iser-iifteate Stirvioe *1=7** ~A• Scholarships Masse brothers to Oklahoma Second front Optimists to improve Lucan .park LUCAN - Village council has given approval.to the Lucan Opti - 'mist Club toproceed with a plan to .improve the park on Elm street. -At:the August 5 councilmeeting, . Optimists Art Bell and Dave At- wood presented engineer's plans on the proposed improvement project. Work is expected to start'this :coming weekend and will include =tonstruction:of a 24 by 32 foot pa- •riiflion." he Optimists said:three -Tisava coald be ;pincedmin the pavillion:to.accommo- date:npio 72 people for a:pionic. •Theugtdat edplans call for:the:pa- villion:to:bect acted where the swingsare=lacated:avp esant.'I3tey will be;moved:to amoresuimble locatiowin, the:park. Most of:the-presentplayground equipment:at.thtElm.street park is beingptepaired andupdated as the resultof a survey of work needed. To keep costs to a minimum most .ofed the volunteer -help. tear h wriii-willlancifill-hatns ed by voiunteer help. The volun- teers include deputy -reeve Harry Norte' Middlesex is Lamhtor Fake $50 passed Police _ _I warn to watch for phony :bills EXETER - The Exeter OPP are advising local mer- chants to be on the lookout forphony currency after a counterfeit $50 bill was -passed in Hensel!. Sergeant Terry Devine - said the old-style $50 bill, without the reflective decal seen on new bills, appears to have been made in a col-. our photocopier. The main clue in detecting such pho- ny money is that its surface is smooth, unlike genuine :bills on which the ink pat- tern canbe felt. The bill was passed last Wednesday:at McTaggart's Food Market in Hensa lined was later _detected byrtbe bank. -The:bill'szcialsaum- ber; EHE3887770-matohes tharofother• stth:counter- feitbillspassed:elsewhere in theiegion. The old-style $50 -bills have 'Mackenzie King on she front, with the RCMP musidal ride on :the reverse. Exeter OPP sergeant Terry Devine shows the $50 bill passed in Hensall last week and Jater found to be counterfeit. A warn- ing is being issued to all storeowners in the area to be aware of such bills. Wraith, coutitend>neg Crawford, and hikes tipping fees works superinntendent Doug John- ston'and Bob Hickson. Dffshwood Witting new chassis for fire -tanker CREDITON - A 1986 truck chas- sis has beatpurchased by both Ste- phen and Hay -Townships to serve as.the base for the rebuilt Dash- wood Fire Department tanker. Provincial safety concerns led the Ere department to send its tank off forrefurbishing and the installation of baffles. 'The truck chassis, how- ever. is being replaced with a 1986 Ford P800 bought from a Palmers- ton dealer for $12,400. The old truck is beied in for $750. Because drenew chassis is larger, confirmed Stephen Township ad- ministrator Larry Brown, the fire department will be able to make more use of the tank by filling it be- yond the level previously allowed. Windows stolen from building site MT. CARMEL - The Exeter OPP have issued a zone alert after a theft at a Stephen Township home over- night of August 3. That night, someone entered the construction site of a partially -built home throe kilometres west of Mt. Carmel, and proceeded to remove from the building a total of 11 in- stalled windows and two doors. The value of the stolen material is estimated at about $5.500. Police say the windows were tak- en by prying then out of their posi- tion and then pushing them out- ward, removing theroAlommutside the building. The windows were 10 Pella "de- signer series" white clavi casement windows, and one Hunt white clad sliding window. The doors were Hunt, wood frame steel doors, one a six -panel slab, the other with two panels and a window. Anyone with information can -Rick Etherington (left) and Doug Hocking .administer the ABCA's CURB program and report contact the OPP at 235-1300, or good success in the area. Behind them is a fencing project in Usborne Township, keeping cat- Ctime Stoppers at 1.800-265-1777. tie out of a stream, and allowing vegetation to quickly recover on its` banks. HENSALL - Council will be sending notices toresi- Aents and businesses using Hensall's landfill site to Wert them.of changes effective September 1. During their regular meeting Monday night, council debated exactly what the hours of operation should be. 'They wanted to have the landfill open for only two slays per week. But problems ardse when trying to de- :oide on what days. It was felt that Wednesday was necessary to accom- modate businesses in the area that use the landfill regu- larly on that day. Friday was the other suggested day for operation, but some councillors disliked the idea of the landfill being closed on the weekend. "My concent is what happens to people who work 9- 5 shifts during the week said councillor Jeff Reaburn. "Other landfills that close on Saturday find garbage sitting at the front gate," said councillor Butch Hoff- man. "We need to get a handle on how many people are using it on Saturday." Reaburn suggested a compromise of opening alter- nate Saturdays Council agreed that in the fall the site will be open Wednesdays from 1-3 p.m; Fridays, 8 can until 12 p.m., and the first and third Saturday. of each month from 8 a.m. until 12 pin. Council also passed, a motion to set tipping fees at $12 per cubic metre for anyone dumping items that are not household garbage such as shingles from a roof. The new policy isn't carved in stone, Said reeve Cecil es Pepper. "It gives us something to work towards." Not even on dutv Police Chief's convention costs town S990 EXETER - Town council was a little surprised last Tuesday eve- ning, to find out that police chief Jack Harkness, although on a leave of absence from the force, is still costing the town money. Council discovered Harkness had racked up $990.67 in Ontario Asso- ' ciation of Chiefs of Police conven- tion expenses on the monthly po- lice account. Harkness has been off active duty since the Civilian Commission on Police Services suspended their inquiry into the ac- tions of the chief and the police ser- vices board in June. Since the town police force is scheduled for disbandment in Sep- tember, it is not expected Harkness will ever rewrn to duty with the town police force, but will instead be taken on by the OPP. Mayor Bruce Shaw, who sits on the police board. said the conven- tion expenses were advised to be paid by the board's lawyer. "Are we becoming a laughing stock for not objecting?" asked councillor Dave Urlin. "Was the chief pre -authorized to attend this convention by the Police Services Board?" asked reeve Bill Mickle. Shaw said Harkness was author- ized to attend the convention by the Civilian Commission, after negotia- tions between the two lawyers. "You mean the Commis- sion...they have the gall to spend our money?" said a flabbergasted Mickle. When asked for a show of hands in support of the police services ac- counts, some of the councillors grudgingly agreed, others did not. Councillor Ben Hoogenboom said his approval of the accounts was "under protest." The motion was carried, five votes to two. Stephen Township ung over water lines from McGillivray, extending service CREDITON - Stephen Township is tendering for work to install valves and meters on water lines Abis-cwt---- . ity is misomiagin coming months. Many Stephen Township proper- ties receive water from pipelines which extend north from McGilliv- ray Township. When property owners on Concession 18-19 north of Corbett requested water service, Stephen council decided it was time to take over the five water lines from the south, as well as ex- tend the Corbett line. "We're still working on the agree- .ment now," confirmed townshipad- ministrator Larry Brown, but added that the McGillivray water lines east of Mt. Carmel may be assumed ata later date. Also under consideration is an option to loop the McGillivray lines into Stephen's Highway 83 water line, providing water pres- sure from both directions. Both water systems are fed from the la1Ki-ti 1 W Nur- Ply. SMphen is also forging ahead with plans to have all the township properties on metered water by the end of next year. Currently, only about one-third of township proper- ties are metered. The township road superinten- dent Eric Finkbeiner is seeking companies willing to demonstrate their meters to council. In addition to conventiorial water meters, coun- cil will likely have the option of us- ing meters read by electronic "note- pads", or have the information transmitted by telephone. Property owners will be required to pay for the installation of the me- ters. The cost of the meter itself will be billed as a surcharge on the water bill . - I .If of rout al nt in h' r ion OEJRB n—ves succces one at a Lime By Adrian Harte T -A Editor EXETER - Since September 1991 when the Ontario government announced it wt. taking steps to improve Lakeshore beach water quality, the Ausable Bayfield Con- servation . Authority has figured largely in those plans. Dubbed CURB (Clean, Up Rural Beaches), the program provides grants to farmers, homeowners, and cottagers in rural areas to improve the handling of bacterial wastes that end up in rivers, and contribute to the closing of beaches. To put it in perspective, the prov- ince spends about $5 million per year on the program. This year, about $1.1 million of that will end up in grants to property owners in the 4BCA's watershed. r 31.3 million went to the Maitland Valley Conservation Au - i! 4 thority to the north last year, mean- ing nearly half of all CURB dollars end up in this Lake Huron area. The main reason for this seeming unbalance in the program is not a fault of Lake Huron, but the agges- sieeness of the two Conservation Authorities in promoting the pro- gram. Is there a measurable improve- ment in water quality from this pro- gram? According to Doug Hock- ing, one of the co-ordinators of the program at the ABCA, there have been drastic improvements in spe- cific streams, even though the over- all progress in the river or the lake itself is harder to determine. "When we get down to the lake, it's harder to show -improvements," said Hocking. As for the bacteria that does end up in the lake, it's hard to say exact- ly where it originates; or if it's from human or animal waste. However, a microbiologist in London is working with the ABCA on a tech- nology to solve that problem and give environment workers some an- swers to those questions. Consequently, CURB has been aimed equally at improving the many faulty septic tank systems at lakeshorc cottages; at building new storage facilities for solid and liq- uid manures on local farms; and at fencing off watercourses from live- stock to prevent direct coo amina- tion, explained Hocking. In terms of the number of pro- jects, not the dollars spent, asptic system upgrades represent a little more than half of all CURB appli- vcgljoas to the ABCA. Those num- bers surteise,l;oth Hocking and co- worker Rick Etherington, but they acknowledge many couagerss have long ignored septic problems and are coming forward now that up to a 32,000 subsidy is available. Nevertheless, Hocking points out many septic bed problems could be avoided if only property owners would have their tanks pumped out every three or five years instead of taking the system for granted. New problems have sprung up with the installation of lake water pipelines in cottage subdivisions. With unlimited water, owners be- gan installing dishwashers, hot tubs, and other appliances that can overload smaller systems. A specie. fix .is in the works for the Hay Township subdivision Highlands 11 under the CURB pro- gram. Property owners in that Lake- shore development have long com- plained that high groundwater levels regularly infiltrate their sep- tic systems. The ABCA has ap- plied to the -province for a grant to improve dtotinagc in that area. "Hopefully, that work will be done this fall," said Hocking. Hc and Etherington say that the lakeshote area of the overall Ausa blee-and Bayfield River watersheds isn't being "picked on" by CURB, but they recoonize that quite often bacteria getting into headwaters don't live long enough to enter the Contiouod on page two.