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Times Advocate, 1996-07-31, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 83 Exeter 235-0262 Zee Resin . C, wen Pan* r— — MI OMs- —, igeMentineghl 1 "▪ Times,Adl aren't t. you're o t.so The 1 I Use this= below 1 Name: I Address City Prov 1 Postal Code aueumenentsanse mann 1 1 per 106 . 246 0117.2 par iW . 4.41 OST txmoenaaetn 1 1 year 1163. 4.41 0814 yew 11119. 233 08T 01aMareuaoa 39203 (Incl. $e6.40 toMw•1 1 USa YOUR CREDIT CARD 0CKI 1LICLI Card No. 1 Expiry Date ❑ Visa 0 Master Card 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ❑ cheque andosed Relum& TIMES ADVOCATE ■ 424 Main Si. Exeter, Ont..NOM IS6 ■ �------ Zurich Fair See page 10 Friedsburg Days See page 12 Vacation Bible School See Crossroads Second front Announcements pages 18-19 Experts page 20 Classifieds pages 21-24 Minor injuries reported in accident EXETER - OPP report an acci- dent on July 20 at William and Gid - ley Streets resulted in minor inju- ries. The accident occured at approxi- mately 7 p.m. and involved a 1984 Ford van, driven by Leslie Lewis, 37 of Exeter, and a 1987 GMC pickup truck, driven by Wilson Wales, 46, of Huron Park. Both vehicles received moderate damaged. Wales received minimal injuries. Scrap metal stolen from Huron Park HURON PARK - OPP report a pickup truck was seen leaving Hu- ron Industrial Park loaded with scrap metal on July 20. Further investigation revealed the metal was stolen from SAF T CAB Inc. Charged is David Marquardt, 32, of Dashwood. A court date has been set for September 24. Flight equipment stolen HURON PARK - Between July 21 and 22, a Piper Aztec aircraft was entered and a Trimble Flight Mate GPS and four headphones were stolen from the cockpit. The equipment is valued at $1,700. Damage is estimated at S100. e all? mornigg 'ire b examines his glove aclurIMGra �1 $44 1414Y rtw►»i a boll game -between Exeter Green , bMie and Jo -Anne GMills and Jim lallagher. Theison and r Tyker e program for four and five -year-olds is more than halfway through their season. Lack of entries forces delay of best looking farm contest EXETER- There's still time to enter your farm in the Times - Advocate's first ever "Best Look- ing Farm Contest." The publication of the photos for our readers to vote on was sched- uled for this week but so far we are a couple of entries short of the 10 required. Rural readers are asked to submit a photo of their farm for a chance to collect enough votes to win a $100 credit which can be used at any of the sponsors of the feature. We hope to have enough entries by Friday to publish the photos next week. Entries can be delivered or mailed to the Times -Advocate, 424 Main St., Exeter, Ont. NOM 1S6. Volunteers will distribute petition Grass Roots petition will call for sup- port of a unified Greater Grand Bend Area under any amalgamation GRAND BEND - Grass Roots for a Unified Grand Bend, a group that recently produced an information brochure, is taking the next step and distributing a petition. "We realize that we want to carry on with a petition letter," said Grass Roots member Roy Merkley, of Southcott Pines. The group is comprised of citizens who are concerned the "Greater Grand Bend Area" including Huron Woods, Grand Cove Estates, Beach '0 Pines, Oakwood, Dalton, Van Dongen and Southcott Pines could continue to be split into separate municipalities. The petition letter will be forwarded to the Minister of Municipal Affairs before a report from the Exeter -Grand Bend-Bosanquet- Stephen-Usborne Amalgamation Committee is completed. The group's area of interest is currently located in two counties and has three municipal governments. Residents involved with Grass Roots want the conununity affected by amalgamation dis- cussion to be able to make an informed decision in mg** to where their community inlereits lie. To this end, Grass Roots is spon- soring a Town Hall Meeting to be held at the Grand Bend Legion on August 9 from 7 to 10 p.m. Representatives from all three municipalities including Bosanquet Mayor Pred Thomas, Grand Bend Mayor Cam Ivey and Stephen Township Reeve Bill Weber has been invited to attend. A Ministry of Municipal Affairs advisor and local MPPs will also be included in the meeting to answer public questions. Merkley stresses this meeting will not be a politically -run and will give residents an opportunity to ask questions. The meeting will be chaired by Bob Elsden. "Hopefully we can get past the misconceptions," said Merkley. Petitions will be distributed door-to-door by volunteers this week- end and will also be available at various locations throughout the area. It is anticipated the petition letter will be sent to the ministry by the beginning of September. SEIP'S valu-mart 4 & 9 Exeter 230-0262 "�4te Clsikkens ileo Rentals tri , 490 everYdaY Friedsburg Days celebrates 25th anniversary of event The Village of Dashwood ex- pects to welcome more than 1,000 visitors this weekend DASHWOOD - Dashwood Friedsburg Days will celebrate its 25th anniversary this coming weekend with events that span three full days. Highlights of the celebration include a bingo on Friday night at the Community Centre with $1,800 in prizes, a wide range of chil- dren's activities and a brass band from Kitchener that will play on Sunday afternoon. The theme of Saturday's parade is "Frieds- burg Days is Silver Lines - So Enter the Parade with Our 25th in Mind!" The parade will start at 11:30 a.m. and will be followed by activities such as a mini -tractor pull, face painting and mask making, a dunk tank, tug -o -war, arm wrestling and a Bavarian Garden. Because the Farmer's Walk competition was suc- cessful in its first year during the 135 Anniversary of the founding of Friedsburg, organizers decided to hold it again. Junior Tug -O -War and demonstra- tions by "Barney the Skateboarding Dog" and ex- pert skateboarder Troy Cooper are also new to Friedsburg Days. According to organizer Elaine Hayter, Dashwood Friedsburg Days began 25 years ago with a street dance. "It snowballed from there and evolved into a three-day event," said Hayter, who has been in- volved with the event for 15 years. Formerly called Friedsburg, the Village of Dash- wood was settled 136 years ago by brothers Ab- solem and Noah Fried from Germany. The Frieds opened a grift and sawmill in the small village that was situated in a wooded area that was referred to as a "dash through the woods" - thus the name Dashwood. Harold Schroeder owns the Freid flour mill built in 1860 that still stands in the village on Hwy. 83. Murray Fried, of Kitchener, the closest living descendants of the brothers, attended the Friedsburg Day's 135 Anniversary Celebration held last year. He was presented with a wreath to lay at the headstone of his ancestors. The residents of Dashwood are proud of Friedsburg Days, an event that draws people from London, Kitchener and Clinton as well as many surrounding communities. "We're expecting a crowd of 1,000 to 1,500 cel- ebrating with us," said Hayter adding "We're just a village of 400 and we're very proud of this event." Municipalities begin review of amalgamation process EXETER - In response to in- creasing pressures for service deliv- ery and a desire to minimize any in- creases in taxes, local municipalities have undertaken a ,process which examines the possi- bility of amalgamation. Reeve Bill Weber of Stephen Township said, "We are seeing in- creasing pressures to provide the same levels of service with fewer dollars. The province has indicated that zero transfer payments in the next two to three years are a possi- bility. This could have a huge im- pact on our budgets, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue to the municipalities and we don't want to be caught un- prepared." The process which includes the Townships of Stephen and Us - borne, Towns of Bosanquet and Ex- eter and the Village of Grand Bend, is designed to examine various al- ternatives for cost control and ser- vice delivery. A steering committee was created to analyze the various options and their feasibility. The committee consists of the respec- tive heads of Council, one elected representative from each munici- pality,one staff member and two Provincial advisors and is chaired . by Keith Glaze, an independent contract chairperson. After seeking proposals fr& In- dependent consulting firms, the committee selected KPMG to han- dle the feasibility study and provide suggested alternatives for input to the process. Mike Follett of KPMG, who is the project manag- er, noted "the project will cover three phases, the first of which in- volves an initial assessment cover- ing financial information, meetings and tours with the municipalities and information meetings for all staff. The second phase involves analysis and information gathering including receiving input through public forums, examining "best practices" of municipalities throughout North America, work- shops, review of business process- es, financial feasibility analysis, and finally further public consulta- tion. The final phase involves the preparation and presentation of the alternatives and recommendations in final report format. The process is scheduled to be completed by late September or early October of this year." The first public workshops were gonducted on July 11 and 12 in Ex- eter and Grand Bend. There were d7 attendees in Exeter and 54 in Grand Bend. The workshops ad- dressed such areas as the quality of life - strengths and weaknesses, op- portunities and potential road- blocks. Groups also looked at core services and what the key services are now and what they should be in the future, opportunities for im- provement and any threats that amalgamation might pose to those services. The workshops ended with a process to prioritize key principles for the steering commit- tee - attendees were allowed to vote on which items were most impor- tant to them. Issues receiving the most support include: • effective representation that is equitable for all areas • cost effective/efficient opera- tions • less government (fewer tiers)/ modified ward system or Continued on page 2 Tree donation As port of its UV*rg Legacy to commemorate the passing on of Its members, the erkiccif Huron Rebeka Lodgep�cri a Turkish Hazel Mee, which was planted at Mao - Park on Saturday morning. Lodge members have donated other trees In the park and at a local cemetery. According to Mario Levesque, who has helped with Phase 1 of the park Improvements, the tree donated -by the group on Saturday Is a new variety that toler- ates pollution, smog and salt. It will ciao provide nuts for park wildlife. Since the area al- ready has a good maple population, Levesque decided to Introduce a different species. At left, Mavis Atthill, Doris Denham, Bev Campbell, Margaret McBride and Baine Skinner.