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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-11-27, Page 1• Local Kinsmen help zr Santa beat inflation The Goderich Kinsmen club has embarkad on a new service project this year. The project known as "Kinsmen Christmas Toy Drop", involves a campaign in the Goderich area. The club requests that new .toys of any value be pur- chased and deposited in specially decorated boxes located around the town, The decorated boxes are located at Canadian Tire, Breckenridge Hardware. Finchers, Peoples Store, Woolworths and the Met. ,. All the' toy's collected by the Kinsmen will be turned over to the Huron County Children's Aid Society for distribution at Christmas time. The project provides an excellent opportunity 'for -in- dividuals as well as clubs or organizations to participate in a worthwhile cause that will bring happiness to many Goderich area residents. "The Joy from giving is equal to or, greater'"than the Joy of receiving." Karen Osborne, Rusty Ormandy Rusty and partner win gold medals Rusty Ormandy of Goderich and his partner Karen Osborne of Chatham won first place gold medals iri the. Western Ontario Figure' Skating Championships held last weekend in Preston. ,Competing for their second year in the Novice Dance which they also won last year, Rusty and Karen were placed first by all five judges with a total of 62.4 points and five ordinals, a commanding lead of four .points over the second place pair from Preston who had 58.7 points and 13 or- dinals. Rusty and Karen now advance to ' the 'Central Canadian Championships to be held in Thunder . Bay December 9th to 14th. Last Year they also placed first in this event when it was held in Brandon, Manitoba. ' They are aiming for one of the top three places this year. They will fly by special charter plane with the rest,of the -Western Ontario team to Thunder Bay on December 8, where after three days of - practise they will compete on December 12 and return home again with the team on December 15. They have been training in St. Thomas under professional Donald Cum- ming, where they skate several days each week. After the Central Canadian Championships in Thunder Bay, they hope to compete: in the Canadian Championships which will be held in London this year from January 14 to 18. Tickets for this event are already 75 percent sold out. Anyone wishing tickets are welcome to contact Rusty or his parents Mr. and Mrs. Trevor Orrhandy, who will he pleased to pick up tickets in London while the mail strike is on. Rusty and Karen have been invited to represent the Canadian . Figure Skating Association next Saturdayby riding in an open car in the London Santa Claus parade. Both Grade.12 students, this pair lead a very busy life keeping up with .school work 'and. skating,commitments. a obert ti 12'8 YEAR -48 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 975 Businessmen urged to band. together SINGLE COPY 25c Lawyer suggests annexation to BY JEFF SEDDON • The Goderich ' downtown businessmen 'were told Tuesday night that their hest protection against a second area shopping mall planned in Goderich township was to urge their town council tQ annex 'the land in the town= iait p increase justified for 1976 and only 19,000 square feet short of the 1981 forecast. He added that the Rockledge Mall contained about 75,000 square feet.of DSTM which would be about 60;000 square feet over the estimate for 1981. "It would amount to a terrible bloodbath for mer-. ship where the plaza is Chants in . this area to have located. The Square, Suncoast Mall George Plaxton, a London and the Rockledge Plaza all lawyer who represented the developed and trying to eke downtown merchants •i.n they;' -out a living," said the lawyer. objections to the Ontario . The Goderich township Municipal Board against the project was considered .a Suncoast Mall, told the core dead. issue by many after a area merchants that if the year of inactivity on the High - town • annexed_ the land they . way 8 construction site. The could 'refuse to grant an Rockledge developers were extension on the Rockledge• granted a building permit on plaza after having.. enacted their $2 million project in 1973 the appropriate zoning just hours before the then bylaws .on, their newly .7M inister of finance for acquired lands. Ontario John White slapped a ' Mr. Plaxton. referred to a freeze on the province retail study done in Goderich , stopping all such develop - by James F. McLaren. Ltd., ment in areas where no of - for Suncoast Estates, in ficial zoning bylaw .protected justifying his suggestion. He undeveloped land, said that the study dealt with Rockledge disputed the the economics of locating a legality of the freeze and shopping centre in the proved in court ,that its' Goderich area and said that building- permit was issued since j,t , was prepared by prior to.it and was valid. They Suncoast for 'use in the OMB begin construction on the site' hearings it was probably the late. in 1974 installing about most optimistic of the two $60,060 worth oNile drainage studies undertaken: The other and footings before the was prepared for the .project bogged down. Several downtown merchants. weeks ago a Toronto area The study forecast that. an _ developer requested township additional 57,..000 square 'feet council to extend the Building of department store type' merchandise (DSTM) ,within • the primary trade area in Goderich would be justified, for 1976 and that by 1981 this. figure would n. rise to 88,000 -; :he jolly old gentleman of square feet. hristmas will be in Goderich Mr. Plaxton said that the this Saturday highlighting the Suncoast Mall contained town's annual Santa Claus about 75,000 square feet of parade. The parade this year DSTM which is more than the features a fairy tale Christmas and over 20 floats It's a -matter will carry that theme to the " residents of, Goderich in Saturday's. parade. The floats have been en- tered in theparade by yarious service clubs .and interest groups in Goderich. People of all ages and walks of life have participated in organizing the laza develo permit for the site an- nouncing to council negotiations to purchase the project from Rockledge. The extension was granted on the premise that the . mall be completed by November 1976. PERMIT LEGAL Mr. Plaxton told the businessmen that there was no question of the legality of the building permit and as long as, it was valid there was no way to stop the mall developmelit. He said that as a matter of self preservation the association in Goderich .must prevent 'by whatever legal mns at their disposal the development o'f the plaza. .."Th er.e is no justification in the foreseeable future for a second plaza in Goderich and the effects of that plaza on the business community would bd devastating." Mr. Plaxton warned the association. Mr Plaxton told the association that a dual effort was ri:quired by them to protect themsetves against other shopping areas intown. He said they would have to unit to try to stop.the plaza out would also have to band together to improve the core So and, 'to, prdyide . ad- d ational off-street parking. He complimented association ,'iernbers on their attempts to ',.:autify The Square antitheft Santa this weekend of life, breath .Money for TBRD Christmas seals may be left at the Royal Bank in Goderich during the mail strike. establishment of a municipal parking authority. He suggested' 't'h'at the, association work closely with the town council to get the - beautification project in full swing as soon as possible' He added that not only could they consider improving the sidewalks, landscaping and lighting but they could work to establish a community activity centre on The Square to attract various age groups in town to the core area for ment recreational as well as shopping facilities. Establishing off-street parking for shoppers on The Square should be a priority according to Mr. Plaxton. He said that, the businessmen, should investigate every • avenue of financing from taxes to a small surcharge of businesses to acquire funds for the purchase of land for parking and the development of land into parking areas, As an added alternative the London lawyer suggested the Blood clinic needs donors T ► e Red Cross Blood Donor Clinic will be held Tuesday, December 2 at ,Goderich District Collegiate Institute from 2 to 5 in the af- ternoon and from 6:30 to 4:30 in the evening. The Goderich Kin- smen Club is assisting the Red Cross again this fall, and Kin members, urge many more Goderich residents to• eget out and give the gift of life. Anyone oder 16 years of ' age can be a blood donor.., "If ydu are a regular donor, we look forward to seeing you again," saes Kin Stan Connelly. t -- "If you are over 16 years old and would like to become a regular aorior, we look forward to meeting you at the clinic." . `''The success of Tuesday's 'clinic is essential to the never- ending campaign to have blood available when you or a member of your family is in need," continues Kin Stan. The Goderich Kinette Club. will be providing a babysitting service for the children of parent donors -during the af- ternoon. 1 businessmen. attempt to secure a national tenant for the core area to operate a "department store or similar facility as an anchor store. He said such a tenant may serve to attract shoppers to the downtown adding that the only way .the businessmen would he successful in at-_ tracting such, a tenant would he to guarantee that no other shopping plaza would be constructed in Goderich. MAYOR HESITANT Mayor Deb Shewfelt told the busineksmen that' the town council was very willing to co-operate on the beautification and- off-street parking projects but was hesitant "over the annexation proposal; "1 don't think it's the at. t itud'e of., any council to put anybody • out of business," said the mayor. Ile pointed out that the mall • developers and their proposed tenants had certain democratic rights the same as • the downtown businessmen - and that the problem' would- have to be "resolved through a co- operative effort between the town, the township and the businessmen. "We .are speaking of -our neighbors in this situation 'and I think we will have to (continued on page 14. floats and Santa himself will he arriving on 'a special float built for him by the Goderich Kinsmen Club. After touring the town, Santa will be holding court for the .children. of the Goderich area to beat the mailj,strike and tell Santa in person what they want for Christmas. The court will be held in the Park Theatre after the parade and the Goderich Businessmen's Association has given Santa a special cartoon film to show all his little friends. Huron flag contest Recommedation to county Friday The Huron County council property committee selected four winners Monday night in the design of the flag contest the county organized mid way The Huron County property committee viewed 140 different flag designs Monday night in attempting to choose a winner in the county's contest held over the past three months:The committee chose the winning flags with the intention of recommending to co ncil a flag for the county or to give council the basis fo choosing an official emblem them- selves. (staff -photo) place, $25' for second and $'20 for third. Elizabeth Deichert will receive. $15 'for her - winning design. The contest also awarded,' 0 in con,solation prizes to nine other entries but thy names of the nine winners OW not be released\ until- the county The contest was sponsored by• the county jn an, effort to help council choose an official flag for the county. The top flag picked in the contest is not necessarily going to be chosen for the official em - The propesty —Committee or the county council.will make that choke later and may base their decision on the results of the 'contest or tfse the entrants as a base for the flag • and design their own crest or writing. Warden Anson NIcKinrey told the co-mmittee he un- derstood the committee had been instructed to make a., recommendation lo county council on the flag to be selected. He said he thought the flag selected as the best in the 'contest was to be used by the committee in their recommendation to council at their meeting Friday. When told that, the com- mittee had not been given that "the county may want to decide on the flag but Iothink the property committee should show countil the contest results , and then request the authority to choose' the design them - The coincidence of the selettion of the top three flags caused some concern among sortie committee members. Some felt the fact that the same person won all three top prizes and that she was an employee of the county, may cast some doubt, on the, operati6n of the contest. The rules set ' down, however. did not stipulate that entrie§ were limited to one per person nor did it exclude' 'employees of the "I'm not the least, bit disturbed over our selection," said committee chairman Reeve Stan Profit of Goderich, "We had no way of knowing who the entries were Each entry was eitheK,' numbered or had the en- trant's -nabie and address printed on the back of it. "That's the way -We picked them and that's the way she staYs." said committee member Reeve Simon Hallahan of East Wawanosh. `Nignal-S tar Publishing Ltd. is arrently in the process of installing a new Press 'Called the Daily K ing•that features eight units and measures 15 feet in height and is approiimatels;' feet long. Press room persorfhel, George and Tom Vanderburghcheck the new unit that h.is douhl'e the capacio, of the press now in usp. Earlier this week the press rbom crew nrimod close to 00.000 copies of various publications in one day. (staff photo) •