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Times Advocate, 1994-12-28, Page 5j By Ross Haugh from the archives of the Exeter Times Advocate 10 YEARS AGO December 27, 1984 The sum of $2,260 was collected last week' from the boxes set up in Exeter banking institu- tions for donations to Ethiopi- an Famine Relief. When this is matched three to one by the federal government over $9,000 in food aid will be go- ing to Africa through the Ca- nadian Foodgrains Bank. 25 YEARS AGO December 27, 1969 - Huron MP Robert McKinley dis- closed last week that the fed- eral transport department is not interested in taking over Canadian Forces Base in Clin- ton when the armed forces move out in 1971. On Thursday a tour of the Clinton base was made by of- ficials of the Applied Arts and Technology branch of the On- tario Department of Educa- tion. Arrangements for the tour were made by Ontario Treasurer, the Hon. C.S. Mac - Naughton and Huron county warden James Hayter. Sunday evening, the annual Christmas program of the Sunday School of Zion Unit- ed Church in Crediton was held under the direction of su- perintendent Eric Finkbeiner. 50 YEARS AGO December 28, 1994 - Exeter municipal council wins up the year with a splendid sur- plus of $2,251.61 and 95 per- cent of current taxes have been paid. At the close of- counkl meeting Friday evening, reeve Benson Tuckey entertained members of council and staff to a fowl supper at Lamport's Coffee Shop. Tuckey said council wound up a very suc- cessful and harmonious year. The biggest undertaking of the year was the purchasing of up-to-date fire fighting equip- ment and installing of an elec- tric alarm system. Hot dog! Bill "Banker" Gossman of Dashwood was at the Exeter branch of the Bank of Montreal Friday morning to pay the taxes on his hotel in Dashwood. Gossman tendered $66.16, all in dimes except for the 16 cents. Gossman runs a hot dog stand in Grand Bend in the summer time and the tax money represents a lot of wein- ers and buns. The dimes were brought to the bank in a fruit jar and as the bank was short- staffed, Mr. Gossman had to have them wrapped before the bank would accept them. An Exeter boy has been hob - knobbing with royalty. Sgt. Bill Reynolds, son of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Reynolds of Us - borne township in writing to his parents stated that he spent an afternoon and evening as the guest of Queen Mary. He says she is a"grand old lady" and much interested in Canada and Canadians. The Exeter Lions club with 37 of 41 members in tow visit- ed Zurich Friday night with in- tentions of starting a club there. The response was tre- mendous with 25 persons indi- cating they would be interested in being charter members. A committee to get things rolling includes Ivan Kalbfleisch, Bill Seibert, Jack Turkheim and Earl Youngblut. Season tickets for public skating at the Exeter arena are now on sale. They are $ I.50 for public school students; $2.50 for those in high school and S3 for adults. Alonzo McCann was again elected reeve of Stephen town- ship. 75 YEARS AGO December 28, 1919 - The trains on the L.H. and B. which were cut off on account of a shortage of coal will be re- stored in the effect of sending the peak load beginning of nextweek. An extra train is be- ing run today. 100 YEARS AGO December 27, 1894 - The an- niversary of James Street Methodist Church in Exeter held Sunday and Monday was very successful and the monies collected amounted to upwards of$140. There are now 22 persons housed at the county jail in Goderich. Huron county council has de- cided to erect a house of ref- uge. The building is to be situ- ated one mile south of Clinton. Another grain buyer, Mr. Jos. Cobbeldick will be on the Exeter market in the near fu-, ture. Sam Lee has opened a Chi- nese laundry in Fanson's Block. IT'S YQ1JR R1JSJNFSS Ticket tax would devastate theatres Times -Advocate, December 28, 1994 Page 5 Commercial theatres are getting an 18 -month break, but Huron Country Playhouse director fears the government may look their way too GRAND BEND - While the extension of a tax holiday for commercial theatres doesn't directly affect the Huron Country Playhouse, artistic director Max Reimer said it is indirectly good news for the local theatre. The provincial government announced last week it would grant an 18 -month reprieve on a planned 10 percent Entertainment Tax for commercial thea- tres of 3,200 seats and less. The province, in its announcement, recognized that Toronto has become the third-largest theatre centre in the English-speaking world, after New York and London. "For what it's worth, it sounds like a stay of execution," said Playhouse director Max Reimer, adding that while the Toronto theatres, to which this exemption mostly applies, are making profits now "theatre's a very risky enterprise". Reimer said that theatres and producers may be able to come up with seven successful productions, and lose every- thing on the eighth. Something as simple as a 10 percent tax on tickets could make the difference between a theatre surviving or going un- der, and between a group of investors taking a risk on a new show, or holding off. Consumer resistance to higher ticket prices is very high in the theatre industry, said Reimer. The Huron Country Playhouse, like the Stratford Festival, is a non-profit organizati and the tax does not apply to its ticket sale, which is just as well, said Reimer. "GST, if applied to our tickets would wipe out our [ 1994 budget] surplus," he said, and pointed out the Stratford Festival came up with an even smaller surplus than the Play- house this year. The Playhouse for the first time put box of- .fice_sales over the $1 million mark in 1994. Would govern- ments, seeking new sources of revenues, consider taxing all ticket sales? "I don't think the government would do it. It would be the end of theatre as we know it," said Reimer. The $21 per ticket the Playhouse charges for its top seats, is a figure very carefully decided upon through various mar- keting studies. A few dollars more, perhaps from an added tax, would have a dramatic and measurable effect on sales, said Reimer. "To pass along a tax like that would be devastating," he said, and said the same would apply to the "mega musicals" in the commercial theatres in Toronto, such as those showing Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserable's, or Miss Saigon. "They're all doing well right now," said -Reimer, but added it takes a long time to recoup the $12-14 million invested in such a production. The tax will hurt their revenues to the point where a few such theatres are bound to close, or a few productions are never brought to Canada. "I think it's wrong to think of them as some kind of fat cats," said Reimer. i What is -good for the large Toronto-based commercial thea- tres, is also good for a smaller summer theatre like the Huron Country Playhouse, he observed. When people who don't see much theatre try and enjoy a "mega musical" they are more likely to buy a ticket for the Playhouse when in the Grand Bend area - or even make a special trip for the theatre. The Playhouse, he said, is now seen as an "anchor" for Grand Bend area tourism, and its million -dollar box office has been estimated to create at least another $6 million in spinoffs for the local economy. Visitors to the theatre also go shopping, dine out, and stay at local accommodation, said Reimer. He said the longer the tait+can be held off on ticket sales, for all live theatres, the better. Audiences aren't concerned about which theatres are commercial or non-profit, they are only concerned with entertainment value for their money. The more healthy theatres in Ontario, the better, said Reimer. "What's good for them is good for us," he said. 4 Looking back on 1994 March March 2 •Workers and former workers at General Homes in Hensall were meeting with government officials in an effort to prevent them from clawing back UIC benefits they were paid in 1990 when the company went into receivership. Because they were later paid vacation pay and severance under a new provincial law, the federal government want- ed their UIC back. •Moms Aviation decided to .leave Huron Park, after de- ciding that hopes to set up a pilot training school at Cen- tralia College were not being supported by the govern- ment. Since Clearwater Aircraft closed, owner Barry Moms decided to re -locate his small airline to Brantford. •South Huron District High School students starved them- selves for 30 -hours at the school, raising $3,000 for global hunger relief efforts. March 9 •Employees and former employees of General Man- ufactured Housing in Hensall said they wished they had never heard of the province's Wage Protection Act. Un- employment Insurance officials were insisting they were still responsible for paying back about $2,500 each to the government. •A handful of Huron County farmers were undergoing a voluntary program to take a hard look at environmental is- sues on their farms. Called the Environmental Farm Plan, officials at the Soil and Crop Association were saying it was an attempt to prove farmers were more environ- mentally responsible than the provincial government thought. •Exeter council voted to allocate about 30 percent of its in- frastructure grant funds towards improving three sewer systems in town. Even though some council members ad- vocated waiting to find out what other projects the town would undertake, the upgrades were approved. March 16 •The Exeter Lions Club were pondering whether or not to televise town council meetings on local cable. However, one big question was whether or not the number of view- ers would make it worthwhile. •Exeter council were disappointed to learn that the former police station, empty since the force disbanded in No- vember, was worth no more than it cost to build in 1979. An appraisal suggested the station could be sold for about $145,000. •Thieves spent the good part of a night cracking the safe at the South Huron Recreation Centre - and got little loot for their work. Police speculated the proceeds from the Mo - hawk's game might have been the target, but the money wasn't in the safe. March 23 •Local smokers might have been getting a break on the price of their cigarettes, but they weren't getting a break at the South Huron Recreation Centre which went entirely smoke free, except for the rental hall portion of the build- ing. •Workers and former workers of General Manufactured Housing were expecting reassessment notices from Un- employment Insurance over what they received in 1991 when the company was in receivership. Some workers complained they were "treated like criminals" when it was found they received severance pay and vacation pay from the provincial government, in addition to UI. •A transportation service for local senior citizens was pro- moted as being a key to their good health by organizers wanting to see such a service start up in the South Huron area. Described as something of an "on -demand taxi ser- vice" for the four percent of the population that would qualify to use it, it was hoped something could be set up in 1995. March 30 •A power outage, caused by a fire on a hydro pole north of Exeter, blacked out the town for two and a half hours until power could be re-routed to Exeter. •Hay Township council decided to go ahead with its plans to build a new municipal office under the Canada/Ontario Infrastructure grant program. Council would be meeting in April to decide whether to rebuild in Zurich, or find a new location for the building in the township. •The provincial government presented Hensall with $122,920 to cover the first year operating costs of the vil- lage's experimental composting facility. The village launched the giant composter to help deal with organic wastes from three grain elevators. Looking back on 1994 April April 6 •Mayor Bruce Shaw gave a report card on the town's performance at the strategic planning meet- ing Marchc 30. He said while the town got good grades on meeting many physical needs, it got a • failing grade in future planning. At the meeting, a new slogan for the town was chosen as "Exeter, where urban and rural meet". Focus groups at the session indicated that the town needed to make some effort to rejuvenate the Sandcrs/Main Street corner into some kind of cultural or,ci"ic centre. •A private member's bill to downsize county coun- cil to one representative from each municipality was killed by opposition from some larger mu- nicipalities, led by Exeter. The town's position that a weighted vote system was needed to better represent Huron's population was gaining support from other county municipalities. April 13 •Huron Park residents were fearing that their local recreation centre was to close along with Centralia College. Several groups renting and using the building said they wanted to fight to keep the facil- ity open. The Ontario Development Corporation, however, said the facility would have to remain closed until a new tenant could be found for the college property. •Reflecting on the information gathered at the stra- tegic planning meeting, Exeter council took the first steps to use some 5560,000 in infrastructure grant funds to renovate the Old Town Hall and Public Library. Not all councillors, however, fa- voured using the money for public buildings. •Bluewater Recycling Association was relocating into a much larger Huron Park facility to ac- comodate demand for blue box programs in the area. Administrator Francis Veilleux said the Grand Bend building seemed huge when the As- sociation opened its doors in 1989, but was quick- ly outgrown and was now serving 48 municipal- ities, handling 7,000 tonnes of recyclables each year. April 20 •Beds were sitting empty at the Exeter Villa, de- spite a 64 -name waiting list, complained owner Tom Kannampuzha. Provincial cutbacks in rest home funding meant the Villa could not get a li- cense to make use of some of the beds in its new wing. •An agreement to rent the Huron Park Recreation Centre was in the works. Stephen Township stepped in with an offer to rent the facility from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to keep the building and its programs open. •Mayor Bruce Shaw created a committee to study options on renovating the Old Town Hall and Li- brary. Councillor Robert Drummond called it a "frivolous luxury project" and urged council to re- ject the 66 percent grant offered by the federal and provincial governments. April 27 •A proposal to use the Clinton High School as a joint public and Catholic facility was accused of dividing the county. A public meeting sparked a heated debate on whether or not a school should be divided, and whether or not "separate" school students should go to school with public students. •The Huron Board of Education was blaming the provincial government for a possible 6.1 percent school tax increase. The way the province as- sessed its grants was said to be the cause of rising rural education costs. 5-j C) IV `_ l l l_ _ i- /A 5-V t • N • Q. • Specializing in farm & business income tax • Computerized bookkeeping • Capital gain elections • 94 High Street, Ailsa Craig, NOM 1A0 519.499.9388 Fax 519.496.6999 10 Main St. Thedford NOM 4NO 619498.6880 1-800-3044986 ' Ask for On Steeper • 1 IL • to • Donuts Now will be closed from December 24 to January 1 OPEN to serve you Jan. 2 at 6 a.m., 1995 We wish all our customers a very Happy New Year 217 Main St. N., Exeter -"9 [ Got a News Tip? 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