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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-02-16, Page 1,41 V, • GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, FERMI:ARV 16; 1 " ase ghtly i01.982. BY JOANNE BUCHANAN as in previous years, the two greatest'causes of ac-. Crime within the town of Goderich decreased cidents ideally, are inattentive driving and not ad- ' slightly during 1982, says Police Chief Pat King in lis justing driving to road and weather conditionS. annual year-end report. In over 13 per cent of the accidents, one or more Chief King's statistics show a decrease in crime of drivers had been drinking alcohol. HoWeVer, liquor seven per cent over 1981. Crimes against the person, offences overall dropped by 21 per cent in 1982, from' such as assaults, robbery and sex offences, decreased 216 to 167. front 30 to 28 incidents or six per cent. However,"' Early in the year, the local police department crimes against property, such as break and enter, acquired its own A.L.E:R.T. roadside testing thefts and mischief and wilful damage, increased machine and 214 drivers were tested With this frortilatnffences to 592 for an increase of four per machine. Twenty-six persons failed the test *tilting: cent. in 13 impaired driving charges and 59 12 -hour drilling. Theft of goods over $200 took the biggest jump, suspenSions. from 42 incidents in 1981 to 71 incidents in 1982. Theft Drug offences were dOwn from 21 in 1981 to juSt two of goods under $200 dropped from 272 to 261 and car in 1982. thefts were down from 22 to 15, with all but one of the Domestic disputes decreased in 1982 by sir per stolen vehicles being recovered. Breaking and en- cent. Chief King notes that, following instructions tering was up slightly from 65 such incidents in 1981 to from the solicitor general and the crown attorney, his 68 in 1982. force is laying the charges in all cases of assaults on a s, The total value of property stolen in 1982 was spouse by the other party and four such charges were $168,482 compared to $144,211 in 1981. However, of this laid during 1982. amount, $130,974 was recovered as compared to Halloween was relatively quiet in Goderich in 1982, $96,686 the year before. with police keeping a high profile, assisted by In the case of bicycles being stolen, Chief King says auxiliary officers whopatrolled With regular officers. about 90 per cent are located but seldom is the thief Several incidents of vandalism to windows occurred apprehended. He explains that most stolen bicycles by use of a slingshot but the culprits were charged. are "borrowed" as a means of transportation from point A to B.Enfortement Under the subject of enforcement, Chief King notes Vandalism Down that criminal charges laid decreased 26 per cent Chief King notes that a 23 per cent decrease in during the year. vandalism in 1982 is very heartening. Incidents of • Traffic violations were enforced by active mobile vandalism or mischief and wilful damage dropped patrols and the use of radar. Traffic charges from 200 in 1981 to 154 in 1982. decreased by 25 per cent and warnings usually for "Unfortunately, this type of offence (vandalism) is equipment! deficiencies, rose 10 per cent for an a most difficult problem to stop and, when it occurs, overall increase irr traffic enforcement of two per to solve. Usually there is no motive fpr the offence. cent. Chief King says the public generally responds to. For this reason, there are usually no leads for police warnings, thus police can enforce the law without to begin with," he explains. • always charging for minor infractions. • Despite this, he says about 30 per cent of the in- Careless,drineSch increased byr percent. "cidents in 1982 werestdired. (Tilde solved, locatnolieyawttineeeigaarktaiitto y4riaitoiAii8es,matigattietritik„. is to lay charges in all cases and to press for problem than the previous year. Fewer complaints restitution by the culprits. from citizens were received and fewer offences were heard by police. Charges decreased from 62 to 39. Car accidents down Charges for unnecessary slow driving, which oc- Car accidents were down in Goderich in 1982 from curs mainly on The Square by persons driving side - 234 to 182. Although 46 persons were injured in ac- by -side while talking, decreased from 16 to 14. , cidents, there were nod( tths. Chief King notes that, Turn to page 2 50 CENTS PER COPY Mlek an l!t1 Kinettes Aiho heI�do cystic fibrosis held fine style as she p. Grade mates �idsti howl-a-thair•f�r •, 'cli\on•Sunday, shows eeVenti*ore than • Lance Langford, Blair Waterfield and Pat Allen are shown here participating in the Goderich Kinsmen Club's annual ski-a-thon for cystic fibrosis held Sunday. Only 15 people in total participated in the event to raise less than $600 for CF. Lack of snow is being blamed for the dismal turnout. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) f re hie Ala On in' event, see the recreation section of. this paper. ( Photo by Joanne Buchanan) . . '11d.winter weather has been. ..a.'._bles§ingfor gome • For those of us who detest both snow and cold temperatures, this winter has been a blessing. But for the people who enjoy skiing and skating or make their living from winter, the past few months have been discouraging. One person who makes his living from winter is Dan Clark, owner of Huron Cycle in Goderich, and he says, "this snowmobile season has been disastrous." But Clark is fortunate in that he does not depend entirely on snowmobile sales. He also sells motor- cycles and says, "the motorcycle season has been going unbelievably well." Clark adds, "this year people's interest in bikes started really early and the amount of sales we've had are really encouraging." Brian Warrilow, owner of Garb and Gear in Goderich, has found himself in the same situation as Clark. Warrilow says that cross country ski sales and winter clothing sales are both down but people are still spending their money. He explains, "we have sold more spring related merchandise at this time of the year than we have in any other year." Another person who benefits monetarily from snow is Art Bordeau of Goderich, owner of Art's Land- scaping. During the winter, Bordeau plows snow and he says that at this time last year he had plowed 20 times. This year however, he has only plowed 10 times. Local fuel companies have also been affected by the lack of snow and cold temperatures. Imperial Esso agent, Mel Bogie of Goderich, says that he feels the average homeowner has had to fill his fuel tank one less time this year than he did last year. Bogie estimates that this means a saving of approximately $200. Another fuel company, Chisolm Fuels has also made fewer deliveries this winter. Ben Chisolm says that fuel deliveries were down 30 per cent during December and January. While some jAividuals and companies have been negatively affected by the lack of snow; the opposite is true for the town of Godericht County Engineer, Bob Dempsey says the county has also saved money so far this winter. "The county saved money because there was little wear and tear on the vehicles," Dempsey says. "Last year we blew three engines in trucks and graders but this year the plows were hardly out," he adds. Dempsey says that although here was little plowing done in January, more sat and sand was used this year,than last year. Dempsey says, "this means the • costs were down but I don't think the savings were even as much as 25 per cent." Commissioner of Works, Ken Hunter reports that this year the town spent $11,000 on snow removal in January, while last year $30,000 was spent. Hunter points out that while the town employees live not been removing snow they have been working on other jobs such as tree trimming. "We haven't had to pay the men overtime, that's how we have saved money," Hunter explains. While it still may be too early to state that winter is over, businesses which depend on winter may be in trouble if the current weather trend continues. ° Mr. and Mrs. Louis Stadelmann of Goderich, record weather statistics for Enviornment Canada and Mrs. Stadelmann says the January mean tem- perature for this year was -3.6 degrees while last year it was -9. The statistics also show that this year only 49. of snow fell in January, while last year there were 77 CM. Designation takes a. twist Attempts to implement a Heritage Conservation District Plan for the town of Goderich are meeting with obstacles at every turn. After meeting with a delegation from the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee at its regular meeting Monday, council passed a moon calling for only the circular area of the Squarep'3 be considered for the designation of a Heritage district. Properties wishing to be excluded frAna the designation mav be excluded, the motion said and 'those wishing inclusion in the heritage designation, may be included. Correspondence will,be forwarded to the' town solicitor outlining counci's intentions and council will also seek his comment s on the situation. The motion ' followed a meeting with represen- tativeg-rif LACAC and its chairman Dorothy Wallace. 4ritiginally, the Heritage Conservation District Plan was to include the area bounded by Victoria, Nelson Street, Elgin Avenue and Waterloo Street, known as The Square and containing 219 property owners. Council prepared and passed the necessary heritage district bylaw in January 1982 after proper circulation and notification. However, there were Einsinen Ca, win not rloca,te The Kinsmen Mb of Ooderich hags keen granted aersaisSiOn te hold its am* Warner earnteaen he Square *Mite requests front the Shoppers Square Association that it be asou4 . White,. told council in a letter that the association Shopper Square ASEMC144100 presiaent, David passed a maim at its mantel Meeting Veldal, February 11, recommending to council- that the Kinsmen midway be moved off the Square and onto South Street or another radial street adjacentto The Square. After entertaining a delegation fr9M the IfInSmen Club, cowl' endorsed a 4110011 SUpporting- the clulY„S request to hold the annual carnivaJ» on the &ware. - Council also stipulated that the blacks .betweenWest Street and South Street be thedesignated area for the mcluarbg's1:17w. Councillor_ John DobertY asked for a recorded vote on the motion, which passed by a 0-0 The Kinsmen Club operates a Midway on the Square each summer in Conjunction with'the Kin- sinoLne uamPark. iv al which teatures a beer tent in Court H Announce grants • to water authority three objections to the bylaw which required an Ontario Municipal Board hearing. In the meantime, many of the property owners within the designated area signed a petition that was later presented to council and handed over to the Ontario Municipal Board. The scheduled hearing was adjourned at the request of the municipality so town officials could meet with objectors and concerned citizens and alleviate some of their concerns about the im- plementation and ramifications of the plan. A public meeting on the plan was held January 25, 1983 and approximately 50 people from the proposed district were in attendance. Subsequent to that meeting, LACAC passed a motion asking council not to alter thelirea in the heritage designation; that LACAC meet with those who requested exclusion from the plan and try and resolve their concerns and that the town request the OMB to reschedule the hearing on Bylaw 2 of 1982 and take the position that people wanting exclusion from - the plan, voice their concerns at the hearing. Connell opted to revise the entire plan to only in- clude the circular portion of the Square after the town solicitor has offered his comments and suggestions on the matter. The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority has been granted $566,900 to undertake various water management, conservation and recreation projects this year, Natural Resources Minister Alan Pope an- nounced today. This is part of a total. of $36 -million 111 previncial grants earmarked by the Ontario Ministry oftiatural Resourcesto help finance projects being undertake:n by the province's 39 Conservation authorities. this "Of the total amount, $1.5-million,is proposedfora federal/provincial mapping program to identify areas of potential flood damage throughoutthe pro- vince," Mr. Pope said. , The provincial grants, representing about 19.. per • cent of the ministry's total budget, were based on pra- - pose's submitted by the authorities last year, They represent about the same level of -funding. asthe governrnent provided in 1982. • • Mr. Pope noted that provincial spending must be carefully watched since the province, like everyone else, is suffering as a result of the recession -- its ma- jor tax -based revenue sources are declining and the • federal government is reducing its transfer payments. Thieves hit furniture store If someone approaches you to buy a colrir television set or refrigerator really cheap, you should contact the Goderich Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police. Chances are that the television or refrigerator might be stolen property. Three Sylvania color television sets and one Frigidaire refrigerator were stolen from the Zilliax Furniture and Appliances, store op Baron Road sometime Tate Menday nightor early Tuesday APArkkjafelope4A.,44:0'41,4* , • -; it 4; •ThfSisilie secrardbrea -ur it .. few months: Previously some col* television "sets and microwave ovens were stolen. The O.P.P. are continuing their investigation. In the meantime, the local police force is in- vestigating a robbery at Bricker's Jewellery store on The Square. An undisclosed amount of rings and watches were stolenufter a brick was thrown through the front window Monday,. INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Goderich wins The Goderich Old Deckhands hosted their fourth international oldtimers hockey tournament on the weekend. Fourteen team participated in the three day event. The story and:pictured appear on the first page of the Recreation section. Skaters honored Sixteen -year-old Debbie Horton of Goderich and her skating partner Curtis Moore, also 16, of Wingham, were named Canadian Novice Figure Skating Champions two weeks ago. Debbie returned home on Friday and the people of Goderich gave both her and Curtis a warm welcome. An interview with Debbie appears inside the first section. Carnival time The students at Colborne Central School held their winter carnival on Thursday, February 10. A tug of war, dogsled races and three-legged races were only a few of the events at the Carnival. For the story and pictures look inside the first section. <,) 0 •