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Clinton News-Record, 1985-08-14, Page 1GALILEAN SER VICE Sunny skies added to the •St. Jame's Mid- dleton 14th Annual Galilean Service on August 11 at Middleton's Pond. The ser- vice, conducted by Rev. Aubray Bell,.was followed by performances by local enter- tainers and a picnic. Hay rides were also offered to all who wanted to see a bit of the country side. In attendance were (above, left to right), Tessa Steenstra, LeeAnn Wammes, Shawna Hemingway and Bradley Wammes. During the service, Joyful Noise, provided the music and helped with the vocals. For complete details on the Galilean Service, please see the Middleton news. (Anne Narejko photos) • " oise pollution" is under control Between the July 8 council meeting and the August 12 joint meeting, tournaments were held that included entertainment and the sale of liquor. The agreement to keep the noise ' level down was upheld and- local residents were satisfied. "We are interested in keeping the noise down right from the start (of the evening) and avoid having to cut the entertainment off early," commented arena board chairman Frank Szusz. Another arena board member, Ron Gross, agreed, "We have to respect the rights of all the individuals...if we have the co-operation between every organization, and the residents are -happy, I see no problem." The few residents present for the meeting felt the problem cottld be dealt with by toning the music damn' ' and Reeve Tom Cronin stated, "Those Who don't, won't be invited back." By Anne Narejko BLYTH - If the noise level is kept down, the Blyth and District Community Centre and Arena will be permitted to stay open and serve alcohol until 1 a.m. At an arena board meeting with council members and representatives from the public present, the question of whether to entertainment at 12 a.m. and have the arena cleared at 12:30 a.m. The matter was then brought before Blyth Village Council who heard arguments from the residents and the organizations involved in the tournaments which provided the entertainment. The organizations felt the bulk of their close the arena at 12 a.m. or 1 a.m. wasteles occur between 12 - 1 a.m. Organizers discussed. The 1 a.m. closing time w emsizedthat they are not after the decided on by the three parties. profit, because any profit they do make goes The question of the closing time came back into the arena or ball diamonds. after a petition, signed by 20 residents living During their July 8 meeting, and after near the community centre, and a letter hearing both sides, council decided the from another resident were received by the arena should remain open until 1 a.mr arena board. The petition stated that during "The events had been planned in advance the summer months they have been and we felt it was unfair to change the times disturbed by the noise pollution created on them," commented Clerk Larry Walsh. during and after dances. I However, en agreement was made to After reviewing the complaints, the board make an atteinpt towards keeping the noise decided t6 cut off liquor sales and level down. .,,..Ograni is an TOltObl'1CA - A $50 -million Pregranl ttt.help farmers hit by the double blow of high i)- tereat rates and low comtrtodity prices was announced last week by Agriculture and Food Minister Jack Riddell. ' The Ontario Family Farm, Interest Rate Reduction Program (OFFIRR) will provide grants to bring interest costs down to eight per cent on up to $200,000 of existing long- term farm debt for one year.• "This transitional program will provide breathing space for up to 10,000 farmers — giving them a chance to reorganize and restructure their farm businesses," Riddell said. OFFIRR is targetted to farmers whose debts are high in relation to their net worth. Those with equity between 10 and 75 per will be eligible for the program, which is ef- fective August 8. Farmers with a net worth of $300,000 or less will be eligible for assistance on loans up to $200,000. Those with net worths between $300,000 and $500,000 will be eligible for reduced assistance. The $200,000 max- imum for assistance will be reduced by one dollar for every $1 in net worth over $300,000. "OFFIRR is short-term help — the fulfill- ment of our election promise for emergency assistance. It will be reviewed in a year in the economic context of the time," Riddell said. t0 wial establish an inter teak fore on fari#4040044K0farm aspects .faril finance — keeping in that the federal government its mar inrrole as source of 1144011_m loans, Riiddel. said. Farmers already receiving interest reduction grants, under existing operating credit and„floating rate interest programs, will be eligible for. OFFIRR. However, benefits • under these other programs on long-term credit would be deducted from the amount paid -out by • OFFIRR. In addi- tion, the. 1,500 farmers being assisted` by the Beginning Farmers Assistance Program will not be eligible for OFFIRR because they are already receiving similar assistance. Grants will be reduced by 30 cents for every $1 by which the combined off -farm in- come of the applicant and the applicant's spouse exceeds $30,000. This includes all off - farm income outlined in the 1984 income tax form excluding payments for Old Age Pen- sion, Canada Pension, other pensions and Family Allowances. ' Application forms will be available for OFFIRR by September 1 at local Ministry of Agriculture and Food offices or frpm the Farm Assistance Program Branch, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, 801 Bay Street, Toronto. M7A 2B2. They must be sub- mitted no later than January 15, 1986. i Clinton is opposed to flood plain changes CLINTON - Council here has voiced op- every year that flooding will reach or go position to a proposal which would alter above the levels. flood line limits along the Bayfield River Hibbert Township has requested the pro - watershed area. vince to 'change • the current levels to the Council met with Tom Prout of the lower 1:100 limitations. Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority Mr. Prout stressed that the reduction (ABCA) on August 0 to discuss the proposal would not reduce the potential of flooding. that has been instigated by Hibbert "You haven't reduced the flood level. Township. You're saying you'll only protect 'the According to provincial legislation, general public to a certain level". changes in flood plain levels must have the "You're asking for trouble," commented approval of all municipalities in the water- Clinton Deputy Reeve Frank Van Altena. shed area. Hibbert is looking to reduce the "I• agree with you 100 per cent,” Mr. Prout present levels to allow more land for noted, "but the province has approved this development. procedure (to allow the possibility of mak- Hibbert Township officials believe.. that ing changes)." the current levels are too rigid. In Clinton only a few potential building "We've met with them three times," Mr. lots along the -Bayfield River would be ef- Prout told Clinton Council. "They still want fected by the lower. levels and council in- to proceed with the process." dicated that they were not in favor of the If the majority of municipalities involved reduction. . in the Bayfield Riverwatershed support' the 'Mayor Chester Archibald explained, "It reduced level of protection, then it will be leaves the municipality open to problems. changed. Exceptions would be made for People buildand if there's problems then municipalities who have a history of they come back to the municipality!" flooding problems. "There's lots of land in this province, "Historical type of, flooding takes surely people don't have to build there," he precedence over the lower levels," Mr. Pro- added: at explained. Councillor Ross Carter asked, . "what is e, pod line. levels. reelpet,,,Wing, t e, responsibility of the town if flooding oc- ong the areas of the river that are proneio curs?' flooding. Current levels were set some 40 Mr. Prout noted, "It goes back to the years ago after Hurricane Hazel. building permit. The individual usually Mr. ,Prout explained, "Hurricane Hazel blames the municipality, saying that they happened and there was a great deal of should have known better. It usually ends up damage • (from flooding). The public in court." screamed and said it shouldn't happen Mr. Prout advised council that Clinton again. Politicians listened and - legislated could register a request to retain the present higher levels. Now the public's forgotten. flood line levels. He said that consideration It's been 30 years and they're asking that is being given to allowing rural the levels be changed so they can build municipalities to use the proposed lower closer to the rivers." flood levels and urban municipalities keep - The current levels were based on rainfall ing the higher levels. levels recorded in a 48 hour period, amoun-. Before Clinton Council officially responds ting to 11 inches. to the request, public input is required and Prior to that, the flood line levels were an open meeting will be held on Monday, based on an engineered figure, known as the August 19, prior to the next Clinton Council 1:100 year level. This lower level predicts meeting to hear any suggestions or opinions that there will be a one per cent chane on the flood plain management. operators, sensitive • Bar ®e ,� to alcohol abuse By Stephanie Levesque EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a three part series on alcohol. Alcohol provides lots of jobs. Along with the employees of the LCBO and Brewers' Retail, there are those employed in the hotel and taverns across the province. Thousands of people in Ontario un- doubtedly have their jobs tied directly to the drinking of alcohol. However that doesn't mean they aren't aware or concerned about the abuse of alcohol. .. The manager of the Queen's Hotel in Seaforth says the waiters and waitresses have taken part in a London seminar called "serving alcohol with care". "We have to be aware of how to handle our customers," says Greg O'Reilly. The customers at the tavern located at the main intersection in Seaforth range in age from 19 to 30, roughly the same age range of customers in other hotels and bars in the area. An unusual feature at the Queen's is a breathalyzer that sits next to the exit door. O'Reilly says it's there for customers to use as they leave. "We do have some people trying it," he says. Bar managers or owners interviewed in the area all agree that they do check for the age of majority card, now more correctly called the Ontario photo card. In small towns it's not hard to catch underage drinkers because as at least one owner says, "everybody knows everybody". " Exeter Inn owner David Urlin says the on- ly time it's difficult to check for the cards is during summer when tourists are travelling through town. All bar operators agree that Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are their busiest times, mostly because that is when entertainment is provided. For entertain- ment, disc jockeys spinning commercial rock music are more and more popular in this area. There are a few spots which feature country music. Only the -manager at Bruno's in Goderich says summer Is busier than winter because Goderich is more of a tourist town than others in the }luron-Perth area. Summer is also busy for the Brewers' Retail outlet in Goderich. "The May 24 weekend and Labor Day weekend are the worst," says Brewers' Retail employee Randy Hamilton. He says more six packs of beer are sold in the summer than any other time. That tells him people are picking up just enough beer for themselves for the weekend. The outlet in Goderich sells about 100 cases of 24 bottles.a day. Hamilton says that figure isfairly constant. A spokesman at the outlet, in St. Marys says beer sales so far this summer have not been as great as the sales during the hot spell in 1983. "We were really busy then," he says. "It's go, go, go all the time in the sum- mer," says Elliot German, manager of the Mitchell Brewers' Retail. Hamilton also expresses concern for the Liberal government's election promise to sell beer in independent grocery stores. "There will be less control. The kids work- ing in the store have to be of age (19)..I,can't ee them' handling beer the way we do.'Sell- ing six packs is the only way it could go," he says. German says the price of beer has had some effect on sales, mostly right after a price hike. A case of 24 bottles is $15 plus a deposit of $3.40. "People still buy it, though." Practically in one voice, the bar operators say it is unfair or wrong for the courts to lay partial blame on them for what a drinking driver does after leaving their establishments. "A lot of people have alcohol in their cars," says O'Reilly, noting bar operators can't be responsible for the alcohol consume ed by customers either before or after leav- ing their bar. Urlin says if he or his staff feel a customer has had too much to drink they offer him a ride home. "If he refuses four or five tunes; then we've done everything we cap. We've gone that far," he says. A newly formed hospitality committee in Goderich has worked at having the local taxi companies extend their hours tomeet the closing times of the drinking establishments. Most places however, say it isn't uncommon for someone from the hotel to give the drunk customer a ride home. 'You can go past here on a rriday or Saturday mottling and it isn't uneonunon to see 10 ears in the paring lot," says the owner of the Ig teter Iain.