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Clinton News-Record, 1984-10-31, Page 1LIBRARY r Fr >- >sr 0CQ 93 — Y WEEKLY WEATHER ° 1984' 11483 OCTOBER 23 24 25 26 27 29°� mgmatupar 11 9 11 15 7 22 9 15 10 10 4 Rain 9 mm 1 1 0 11 6 10 5 9 1 10 2 9 3 18 .4 9 0 10 man 5u CENTS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31,1984 119TH YEAR ® NO. 44 Gala Celebrations honor Clinton Town Hall By Shelley McPhee CLINTON - Good fortune, good weather and high spirits shone on Clinton. this past weekend when the town hall, police station and library were officially opened. Skies cleared for the 2 p.m. ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct. 27 and local people gathered in front of town hall to watch the ceremonies. The re -opening marked the completion of the restoration of the 104 -year-old town hall. The renovation work took two years to complete and more than 30 years of controversy and dispute before restoration approval was given. Mayor Chester Archibald headed the 1981- 82 town council that made the decision to spend over $1.5 -million to restore the building. At the official opening the mayor recounted the years of controversy and spoke of his, "second thoughts, doubts and wakef ulnights." With the restoration completed, the mayor enthused, "Our core area looks better now than I've ever known it." He noted that Clinton has one of the best perserved and most attractive streetscapes in the county. Huron -Middlesex MPP Jack Riddell said that Clinton's century old town hall, "is the type of building that the younger generation can see as our past." "It's one of the finest buildings you'll see any place," he praised. Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling remembered being nominated for municipal office in the building, some 30 years ago. In recent years he's followed the controversy surrounded with the building and admitted, "If I was on town council when the restoration decision was made, I wouldn't have supported it. It was a good decision though." Many townspeople shared. Reeve Stirling's opinion..One faction supported the demolition of the present but cling and, pe constructionof new muni s. ; al offi s. Others favored the restoration ,'p oposaLf,e -,John White, chairman o Heritage Foundation comp'liniented Clintonians on their decision to restore. In his remarks at the ribbon cutting ceremony, Mr. White noted that Clintonians were, "taking leadership in the heritage movement." . He commented on the core area restoration of its 19th century buildings and noted, "it would be a tragedy if this was lost." Mr. White also praised the work of architect Carlos Ventin of Simcoe, "He's saved more good old buildings in this province than ary other architect." The architectural firm, C.A. Ventin and Associates was chosen to draw specifications for the restoration project in 1982. Before the contract was awarded to Gilvesy Construction, there were special meetings, public debates, arguments and petitions to decide the future of Clinton's " .town hall. Mr. Venting -said that the Clinton restoration was the most controversial project he'd ever worked on. He commended the council building committee, the municipal staff and Clerk Cam Proctor for their efforts. He also encouraged, "Make the upstairs the community hall that we all deserve." Ribbons were cut, the CHSS Band played, new photographs of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were presented .by Huron - Bruce MP Murray Cardiff, and Clerk Cam Proctor presented Mayor Archibald with a hand carved town crest. The detailed carving was made by ,a friend in Kitchener, from a solid piece of cherry wood, that came from between Clinton and Bayfield. The crest now hangs in the council chambers. Public tours, led by CHSS students and other volunteers, unveiled the restored and new facilities. Later that evening the Town Hall Auditorium was opened to the public, for the first time in more than 30 years when a tremendous Variety Night Show was staged. It featured the talents of local musicians, dancers, actors and easily earned enthusiastic applause and compliments by the more than 275 people who attended. Master of ceremonies, Clinton's Recreation Director Kevin Duguay noted that the Variety Night would be the first of a successful series of performing arts events to be held in the auditorium. The Variety Night began a week long gala celebration, co-ordinated by the Town Hall Steering Committee. Mr. Duguay said that he and Steering Committee members, Councillor Ross Charter, Chairman Roy Wheeler, Jo Winter, Judy Stuart, Reg Thomspon and Marilyn McMahon spent seven months. preparing for the opening. The committee gave special recognition to Judy Stuart for her dedicated efforts. The celebrations continued on Oct. 28 with Turn to page 2 John White, Chairman of the Ontario Heritage Foundation, Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling, representing Huron County Warden Tom Cunningham and Clinton Mayor Chester Archibald cut the ribbon to offically re -open the restored Clinton Town Hall, Library and new police station on Oct. 27. (Shelley McPhee photo) Goderich Township Reeve Grant Stirling isn't looking for pigeons. He's admiring the newly restored Clinton Town Hall. As for the pigeons, they've move elsewhere. (Shelley McPhee photo) 4 The rain stopped, the crowds appeared and Clinton's grand old Town Hall was officially re -opened on Oct. 27. The celebrations marked the completion of the extensive renovation of the 104 -year old Town Hall and Library and ended a three decade con- troversy. Festivitiesbeing held in conjunc- tion with the re -opening, continue this week. For more photos on the weekend events, please see the Second Section feature page in this week's News-Record.(Shelley McPhee photo) Two die, others injured in two weekend crashes SEAFORTH - ,Two Seaforth area men were killed when the car they were travell- ing in struck a tractor pulling a liquid manure tank across Highway 8, between Clinton and Seaforth. Robert Menheere, _21, the driver of the vehicle and Daniel Sloan, 18, both of RR 4, Seaforth were pronounced dead at the scene by Clinton Coroner Ray Flowers. The driver of the tractor, Theodore Janmaat, 23, of RR 2, Seaforth was not injured in the Oct, 22 accident. Another vehicle, driven by Shelley Westerhout, 19, of RR 1, Clinton, struck the Menheere vehicle after the accident but she was not injured. Roth cars were eastbound on the highway while the tractor was southbound during the 11:30 p.m. collision. A two car collision resulted in injuries to three Bayfield area teenagers on Oct. 25. Goderich OPP said both Michael James Clark, 17, of RR 1, Bayfield and Nancy Thompson, 15, of RR 2, Bayfield were treated at Goderich hospital for their in- juries, described as being primarily cuts. Dennis Thompson, 18, also of RR 2, Bayfield was transferred to London's University Hospital late Sunday night with serious injuries. The Thompson vehicle was travelling nor- thbound on Highway 21 when it and the. southbound Clark car collided head-on. Public opinion sought CLINTON - Final preparation of Clinton's zoning bylaw has been in the works for more than a year. The result is X draft copy, mailed to Clinton ratepayers last week. The bylaw specifies necessary zoning requirements in town, from residential to industrial, commercial to • future development zones. The detailed plan has been jointly developed by the Clinton Planning Advisory Committee and the County of Huron Department 8f Planning and Development. Wayne Caldwell of the county planning office explained that the Clinton citizens are asked to study the draft bylaw. Their questions and concerns will be heard at two public meetings, to be held on Thursday, November 29 between 7 and 9 p.m. and on Saturday, December 1 between 2 and 5 p.m. at the Town Hall. The informal meetings will follow and 'open house" format, where ratepayers can discuss the bylaw with Mr. Caldwell or Clinton Council members. The Planning Advisory Committee will consider each comment and make appropriate changes to the bylaw'. After council adopts the bylaw, it will be reprinted and again circulated to ratepayers. They will have 35 days to voice any objections to the Town Clerk. Mr. Caldwell said that in other municipalities, objections have' been few, and they have been resolved by co..,�, il. Any unresolved objections may be tak`to an Ontario Municipal Board hearing. "We try to avoid this situation by. having the draft bylaw," Mr. Caldwell explained. Councils vote for new rural controls Waste disposal site rules unfair CLINTON - Smaller municipalities should not be governed by the same legislation that controls waste disposal sites for larger urban centres. That's the bottom line on a resoluton being circulated to Ontario municipalities by the Village of Zurich. Clinton Council is one of the many areas that have endorsed the resolution. It asks the government to re-evaulate the regulations governing landfill sites and the Blue Print for Waste Management which ntrols the expansion of existing sites. The Zurich resolution says that the standards defined in these laws, "are required for waste disposal sites for large urban centres and those sites which consume industrial and chemical wastes. There is definitely no need for such stringent, unreasonable and costly regulations which also govern smaller rural sites." In supporting the Motion, Clinton Councillor Gord Gerrits noted that the laws that govern larger sites also control smaller ones, like the Holmesville site. Councillor Gerrits sits on the committee that oversees the management of the site and he noted, "It means costly studies. We've already spent $150,000 but that was paid for by the ministry. Now Seaforth, Tuckersmith and Mc](illop want to use the site, but the dump would need to be re -assessed and more studies done." Mayor Chester Archibald' added, "Our studies cost close to those in larger centres and they have a larger tax base to finance it." The Zurich resolution further noted that joint landfill sites would not reduce costs, "as transportation expenses wuuiu be astronomical." It further,suggested, "the Minister of the Environment and opposition parties have listened to the environmentalists who seem to be better lobbyists than municipalities, without or with very little apparent consultation or consideration from, or for, small urban or rural councils or taxpayers at large, on >the issue of waste management," Regarding costly studies, the resolution suggested, "that the minister, if still insistant on expensive consulting firm studies, engineer studies and reports, land acquistions and environmental assessments (possibly on more than one site), provide all financing grants to minimum of 100 per cent of the cost, except for the actual cost of the land."