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Times Advocate, 1994-12-28, Page 1SEIP'S valu-mart er a Serving Exeter and area since 1873 SEIP'S valu-mart Have a Safe & New 4 & f.3 Exeter 235-0 —� We have all your Entertaining Food Needs r1 !0 1, 'tf you aren't subscribing to The' I Ti A txe, you're nuremissing outUse the w subscribe today! and 1 Name: I Address City 1 Prov Postal Code 1 YEARLY IUINICII PTION RAZE@: Crude Within 40 miles - (65 km) addressed to non letter carrier addresses $30.00 plus $2.10 O.S.T. 'Outside 40 miles - (65 km) or any letter Carrier address $60.00 + $4.20 O.S.T. Outside Canada 499.00 r.,ct at•o P31.1•00 1 USE YOUR CREDIT CARD puuuuuuu 1 uu0uuuuu Card No. I Expiry Date El Visa ❑ Master Card u Cheque enclosed ' fretum to; TIMES ADVOCATE Ont. NOM 1S6 Leri --ea.-- 1 1 1 11 1 11 1 1 1 Inside Changing light bulbs Not as easy as it sounds See page 3 Theatre tax? Ticket tax reprieve brings a sigh of relief See page 5 -- Through the viewfinder Images of 1994 See page 8 Personality perceptions Students asked to show True Colours Crossroads Second front Referee Steve Gould's second OHA season See page 14 Grand Bend's winter blues Council once again targets Main Street ' revival See page 24 Classifieds pages 18-20 Announcements pages 21-22 Experts page 23 Bus service disappearing The Exeter area will lose its last bus route January 15 EXETER - Huron County's reliance on the automobile will be virtually complete as of January 15 when bus ser- vice disappears from the region. Cha -Co Trails will rim the last bus on t s don -Owen Sound route that day. The company, in fact, is dropping five of its six regular routes. The only one to remain is the London -Kitchener route, which stays financially viable because of the University stu- dent traffic at both ends, and connections with other bus lines. "We have to discontinue it, because of the'costs," said line run supervisor Alice.McKim at Cha -Co (Chatham Coach) Trails' office in Chatham. Faced with the fact that the routes continued to lose mon- ey, were drawing fewer ride's than ever, and insurance costs were going up 40 pervert, the company had no choice, she said. "We've been losing money on line routes for some time now," said McKim. Efforts to re -organize, re-route, or cut to a "skeleton ser- vice" only resulted in making bus travel less "handy" for all. At a guess, McKim said the London -Owen Sound route would "average five to eight (passengers] on the route". Unfortunately, for those who have come to rely on it, there are few inexpensive alternatives to bus travel. Putting smaller, less costly, buses on the routes only brought complaints from travellers on the long ride to Owen Sound. "People did not like the smaller buses," said McKim. Despite visions of a future less dependent on personal au- tomobiles and a strong public transit sector, there is no ev- idence Canadians are prepared to leave their cars at home. "That's why we were hanging on," said McKim, adding that a kind of "moral obligation" to those dependent on bus transportation held off the route cancellations for a couple of years. Cha -Co Trails dropped its Hanover to London route in 1991, leaving the Hensall to Lucan area without bus ser- vice. The Owen Sound route was diverted to pass through "Some nights they'll come in and they'll have one passenger," Exeter after Labour Day that year. Ticket sales and parcel handling for the bus service were handled in Exeter by the Petro Canada Station. An adult one-way ticket to London costs $7.60, or $6.84 for seniors. The route runs Monday to Saturday, heading south at 11:10 a.m., and arriving back from London by 7:10 p.m. Val Marshall at the gas station said even though some seasons were busy, she would see the bus go through town with only a handful of passengers. "Some nights they'll come in and they'll have one pas- senger," said Marshall. "Other nights they'll have a dozen." Most people use the bus service for trips to London. Al- most none use it to head north towards Owen Sound. One rider hopping on the bus Friday said that once the service is cancelled, he will have to seek the help of his friends with cars to travel to London to make connections with other bus routes or the train. A common daily sight in Exeter for years will make its last appearance on January 15, the last day Cha -Co Trails will run its Owen Sound to London bus route. The bus has served for years as the only way for non -driving residents to get to London and back, short of hiring a taxi. Wayne Forbes - "1 made a lot over the years and never kept too many of them." Catherine Troler - "The Lord works in our lives." Dale Turvey - Has tried to 'lose a little weight, quit smoking or... Made any resolutions? Or are New Years' pledges a thing of the past? By Heather Vincent T -A staff EXETER - With 1995 fast approaching people are usually beginning to think about making and perhaps keeping some New Years' resolutions. This process begins shortly after the turkey din- ner is finished and people start to feel a bit slug- gish. Many people vow to lose weight, cat better and exercise more. A few days before Christmas we hit the street to find out what local area residents were think- ing about making as New Years' resolutions. The overwhelming response was that people have given up even trying to make resolutions they cannot keep. Wayne Forbes of Grand Bend said that he doesn't make resolutions any longer. "I made a lot over the years and never kept too many of them. I figure there is enough stress on our lives now, we don't need one more. I am what I am and I'm satisfied," said Forbes. Catherine Troicr of Exeter also doesn't make resolutions but says she hopes. "the Lord works in our lives." Dale Turvey, of Burlington, was in Exeter Fri- day visiting relatives during the holidays. Turvey said he has made resolutions in the past hut had not kept them very well. He usually tried to "lose a little weight, quit smoking or to get in a little bit more active lifestyle." He doubts he will try to make any resolutions this year. Looking back at 1994: week by week In the quiet time of the holiday season just before the New Year arrives, it is a tradition at the Times -Advocate to take a look back at the 52 issues we published over the course of the year and review them for our readers. While. we don't expect, most readers to have all of 1994's issues readily at hand, we of course, do. As last-minute Christmas shopping takes place in local stores, we're busy flipping pages, finding out just how the year's top news items developed over the months. Some events started with small items brought up at council early on, and developed into bigger issues as the weeks passed. Others naturally exploded on the scene all of a sudden. Here, we have provided a brief summary of the top few items of each week's news- paper, according to the date of publication. If you follow the review through the pages, you will sec how the Old Town Hall con- troversy grew from a grant announcement to a major election issue, how South Huron Hospital continued (and continues) to de- bate how it would pay for its emergency services, and how other news items came and went. Also, on page eight we have a collection of a few of the Times -Advocates top news photos of 1994, and on page 12 there is a separate summary of the year's top sports stories. What better way to start a New Year than by taking a brief look hack? Looking back on 1994 January January 5 •The controversial, on again, off again, Junior Kindergarten program started in Huron County Schools. Paul Carroll said the Board of Education was surprised by the "cla- mour" from parents to get their children enrolled, making all eight schools starting,the program, full. •Snowy conditions made it a good season for snowmobilers, some of whom were using the streets of Exeter to make high-speed late night runt, complained town council. Ex- eter has a bylaw in place regulating snowmobile use in town, but a few, apparently, weren't respecting it. •A Grand Bend man was,charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of his son in a village tavern on New Years Day. •Even though snowfall was almost constant over the hol- idays, Exeter works staff said it didn't appear they had blown their snow removal budget for 1993, mainly be- cause of a milder spring. January 12 •Barry Morris, owner of Morris Aviation Consultants, was putting forth his own idea fOrthe Centralia College facil- ity, scheduled for closure in June. Moms suggested an in- ternational flight training school to take advantage of the demand in developing nations for well-trained pilots. •Bluewater Recycling scored another coup with the an- nouncement that the Village of Lucan would be trading In its old blue box recycling program to join the municipal- ly -owned operation. With the switch the village was hop- ing to lower its annual recycling costs from S21,000 a year to less than $18,000. January 19 •Exeter gained an ally in its battle with county council over voting privileges in the county chambers. Goderich an- nounced it had changed its mind about the one -vote per - municipality plan, Kid agreed with Exeter that larger mu- nicipalities, such as the towns, should enjoy a weighted vote. •Margaret Hughes of Exeter got the fright of her life on January 17, experiencing first-hand the devastating Los Angeles earthquake. Visiting with her daughter just up the coast in Pallisades, Hughes described the quake to the Times -Advocate only four hours after it shook the home. *Zurich businessman Dough Oesch, owner of the Tasty -Nu Bakery wasn't happy with a decision by village council to bill him $2,100 to clean up a furnace oil leak investigators say came from an unused tank on his property. Since the tank was full, Oesch argued it was possible, if not likely, there was another source for the leak. *Stuljt January 26 l' and grab -style crimes were indeed on the rise in the area, confirmed the Exeter OPP. Cigarettes were the typ- ical target of lightning -fast break-ins at local variety Stores, to The tune of four �r five such crimes a month. Detective constable Rick Borden said that (pre-tax cut) cigarettes were an easy commodity for criminals to sell, and few buyers were concerned about where the "cheap smokes" came from. •Exeter town council revealed its latest dispute with former police chief Jack Harkness. Council were attempting, through legal channels, to recover a collection of police badges that had been on display in the police station for years. Council alleged Harkness had removed the collec- tion. *The amounts of money each municipality was entitled to receive under the Liberal government's Infrastructure Grant plan were revealed. Because each municipality was responsible for one third of the cost of whatever project they undertook, some were asking whether or not they could accommodate those funds in their 1994 budgets. •Stephen Township firefighters were called out to a rather routine, minor fire in Crediton January 18. What made the event so memorable for the firefighters was the in- tense cold: the temperature dipped to -31°C that night, and wind chills dipped into the -60° range. Hot coffee spilled on the emergency vehicle's floor froze instantly.