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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-07-15, Page 1oaerice h 139YEAR -28 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1987 60 CENTS PER COPY Wayne Boland,, of RR 2 Clinton, will be displaying the results of his stained glass craft- smanship at the annual Festival of Arts and Crafts later this week. Boland has been working with the glass for several years and says it takes "good hand -eye co- ordination". (photo by Patrick Raftis ) Artists .gather together for local craft festival' SIGNAL -STAR STAFF Artisans, craftsmen, painters, photographers and sculptors from across Ontario will be in Goderich this week to display and sell their creations at the an- nual Festival of Arts and Crafts. Staged this year by the Goderich Recreation Department, the festival will be held in Courthouse Park from Thurs` day,, July 16 to Saturday, July 18 and in- cludes a variety of events. Last year, the festival attracted approx- imately 120 exhibitors from across On- tario. This year " 107 exhibitors had registered for the festival by July 10, five of whom are from the Goderich area. Co- ordinator Patti Rean attributes the drop in number to the fact that registration prices have increased by $15, from $25 to $40. "We have also limited the festival to three booths per item meaning, for exam- ple, there.will be only three different wood- working booths," Rean said. Events held in conjunction with the festival include a Flower Show, sponsored by .the Goderich Horticultural Society. Flowers will be .on display on the second floor of the Huron County Court House. Photographs entered in the photography contest will be on display at The Livery, Thursday through Saturday. The Goderich Art Club will also have a display at The Livery. Diana Leigh Hopson, of the • Royal Botanical Gardens, will be speaking at MacKay Centre on July 15 at 7:30 p.m. Her topic is 19th Century gardening. There will also be a Royal Ontario Museum display at Courthouse Park dur- ing the festival. Food events, sidewalk sales, an athletic event and many other at- tractions are also held in conjunction with the festival. Although the majority of exhibitors at the Festival of Arts and Crafts are from throughout Ontario, local artisans also participate in the event. Local par- ticipants include: ,Kathleen Hamilton, of ' Goderich, who does smocking; painter J frey Dotterer, of Goderich; Wayne B nd, of RR 2 Clinton, a stained glass craf sman; and Suncoast Enterprises, a local soap and ceramic1usmess. CREATIVE SEWING Staying at home with her family is im- portant to Qoderich resident Kathleen Hamilton, so after her daughter Jennifer was born six years ago, Hamilton decided to learn how to smock. Since that day, she has seen her talents grow from smocking bibs and baby bonnets to sewing and smocking baby clothes and Christmas or- naments as well as ladies blouses and nightgowns. Hamilton is one of the few Goderich and area artisans who will be participating in the Festival of Arts and Crafts which begins tomorrow at Courthouse Park. Her first year as an exhibitor at the festival three years ago saw her sell out her entire stock by the second day of the three-day long festival. Last year, shwas better prepared and says sales and orders kept her extremely busy until Christmas time. Although her supply at the festival is limited, Hamilton does this on purpose. She explains that there is little sense in making 15 dresses of the same style when "you are not sure if they will sell:" In- stead, she relies on an order system where interested customers can order the size, color and style of outfit to be made later. Smocking, for those who know little of the craft, is decorative stitching used on clothing made by gathering material closely with rows of stitches in a honeycomb pattern. Hamilton uses a pleating machine which makes the work a little easier. She explained that once the material is pleated, you smock a design, then sew the pieces together to. make a finished gar- ment, such as a baby girl's dress. She noted the present interest of picture smocking which involves smocking a pic- tureof an item on the garment. Hamilton is able to smock teddy bears, fire trucks, rabbits, balloons, sailboats and antique cars. After last year's festival, Hamilton was approached by Kitchener and London businesses who were interested in her work. The Kitchener store carries her baby clothes while the London store was interested in selling her Christmas ornaments. • . Although she enjoys doing a variety of smocking work, Hamilton does have a favorite item among the many she has completed. "The nicest thing I've done is a satin christening gown and bonnet which was sent to England." STAINED GLASS While he's never done a church window, `Wayne Boland, of RR 2, Clinton, has made a wide variety of items out of stained glass. Boland, who began working with stained -glass--about-throe-=and-a-half-yeaea -ago, will be among the artists whose work will be available at the upcoming Festival of Arts and Crafts. A large portion of his work consists of lampshades and "suncatchers," - small figurines for hanging near windows - although Boland has done stained glass windows in his own home and for relatives. The largest job he has undertaken con- sisted of six lampshades for the recently refurbished Benmiller General Store - a project which required many hours of painstaking work. "You have to really enjoy it, because it's tedious work," said Boland, who says he Turn to page 12 Baby clothes, bibs and bormets as well as ladies blouses and nightgowns will , be on -display at Kathleen Hamilton's booth at the Goderich Festival of Arts and Crafts. The Goderich resident does smocking, a tedioris craft that involves sewing a design on pleated material. At her first festival three years ago, Hamilton sold out of her stock in two days. (photo by Lou -Ann Hope) Sheaffer Pen sold to American firm BY LOU -ANN HOPE Textron Incorporated announced Mon- day that it has agreed to sell its worldwide Sheaffer Eaton Division, which includes Sheaffer Pen in Goderich, to Gefinor ( U.S.A.) Incorporated for approximately $135 million. Gefinor (U.S.A.) Inc. is a subsidiary of the Gefinor Group, a Luxembourg Public Limited Company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. - Cliff McDonald, administrative director of Sheaffer Pen in Goderich, made the an= nouncement on behalf of Joseph Biafore, president of Sheaffer Eaton Division of Textron Inc. He said the sale, should be completed by September of 1987. The an- nouncement brings to an end months of speculation'concerning the sale of the industry. McDonald noted there will not be any major changes in Goderich in response to 'the sale and that the present staff of 75 employees will remain with the company. In fact, , McDonald expressed his and Sheaffer Pen's desires to see the local company's operations expand. "There will be no change in employees, in fact, we would like to expand our opera- tions," -McDonald said. McDonald noted the plant, which is cur- rently at 95 per cent capacity, is occupying only four of 15 acres owned by the com- pany and also is moving into new products. He said the Goderich location has a lot of advantages which would work well in pro- moting plant expansion. These include fairly accessible markets, low costs and the availability of manpower. "That's what we want. to do. Once we know more about the company (Gefinor), we'll go after them. We'll promote this as best we can," he said. The only difference, with respect to the purchase by Gefinor ( U.S.A. ), would be a slight change in the company's name, "... Sheaffer Pen Limited rather than Sheaffer Pen Textron." McDonald added Goderich will probably be the Canadian headquarters for Sheaffer Pen Limited. Textron Inc. has been working on the sale of the Sheaffer Eaton Division since February of 1987. "Textron said they wanted to sell the division because it didn't fit into their long- term strategy," McDonald said, explain- ing that Textron Inc. is a multi -industry company with interests in Aerospace Technology, Commercial Products and Financial Services. He added Textron is divesting itself of all its consumer produtet divisions, which included Sheaffer Eaton Division, and that its consumer product holdings have dropped from. 20 to two or three. Sheaffer Eaton, which has four divisions in the U.S.A., as well as locations in England, Australia, France, Belgium and Italy,,, employs about 2,200. Sheaffer Eaton, headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a leading producer of Sheaffer quality writing instruments, Eaton ' stationary, At -A -Glance appoint- ment books and Duo -Tang report covers. Dr. Edward A. Armaly, president of Gefinor (U.S.A.) Inc., announced in a press release "that the present manage- ment team would remain and that the company will continue to expand its markets and operations worldwide. Every effort will be made to ensure continuity of growth and profitability at Sheaffer Eaton." - PUCdiscusses Goderich swimming pool charges A long discussion concerning the viabili- ty of putting Goderich swimming pool owners on a metered water system was held at the July meeting of the Goderich Public Utilites Commission held Thursday afternoon. urrently, there are approximately 121 po 1 owners in Goderich who pay an an - nu 1 rate of $55 per year for pool water, a re enue of over $6,000 annually for the P . However, some owners are upset wi the fee, claiming they do not use enough water in their pool up -keep to justify that amount. "We have a flat rate pool charge and there `is discontent because the people (pool owners) claim they don't use the water we say they do. Some people say their neighbors use more water washing their cars and watering lawns," Dr. Jim,. Peters, PUC commissioner, said. Commissioner Don MacMillan said, "A person who has a pool and adheres to water bylaws uses less water than the per- son who doesn't have a pool and doesn't adhere-to-t-he-w-ater-bylaw " - - PUC chairman Ben Sheardown, a pool owner, said he doesn't mind paying the nual water rate for pool owners since amount of water used depends totall, on the individual. "If you give your pool good atte,'" tion, then you don't use nearly all that. ter. It's up to the individual," he said. While Sheardown agreed with the water charge for pool owners, MacMillan felt the PUC should drop all pool charges until something concrete was established. However, this met with opposition. In- stead the commissioners discussed the idea of conducting a study to see how much water the average pool owner would use in a season. Commissioner Herb Murphy suggested a test metering of swimming pools in Goderich. "We could get a representative sampl- ing of pool users, study them for awhile and then come back with findings and make a decision," he said. Water manager Ernie Porter said hook- ing up test metering systems would not be a problem as long as the pool owners tried to use just the one hose for the pool so the PUC would get a fairly accurate reading from the meter. In finding a representative .sampling of Goderich pool owners, the commission members agreed they would have to find five or six pool owners with various sizes of pools and whose pool use was also variable (eithbr children or adults). Doing a representative sampling of Goderich pool owners "will require active co-operation" noted Dr. Peters. "It is just a learning lesson and is not meant to penalize anyone," Sheardown Turn to page 2 • Arena acoustics decision tabled at special meeting Goderich Town Council could not reach a decision pn taking steps to improve the acoustics at the Goderich Arena at a special meeting,held to discuss tenders for the job July 10. Council did narrow the potential solu- tions, provided the project is approved, down to two options before the matter was tabled on a motion by Councillor Stan Pro- fit, seconded by Councillor Peter McCauley. The town's 1987 budget includes $60,000 for improvement of arena acoustics, $30,000 of which would be grant money under the Ontario Neighborhood Improve- ment Program. Complaints about sound quality at arena activities ranging from musical events to sports have been a regular occurrence since the arena was built. Public Works Commissionor Ken Hunter said the sound problems are basicallyhe result of three factors. The sound system in the arena itself, which Hunter described as "so-so" is one potential problem, but Hunter said it is on- ly five years old and, replacing it is "probably not the solution". An echo problem is the main source of concern. The "reverberation time" for sound in the arena is currently around 8.5 seconds, said consultant Jim Deacons. Deacons said solutions under considera- tion could reduce reverberation to about 1.5 to 2.$ seconds. The third source of sound interference is the arena's lighting system. "If you've ever been into the arena by yourself you'll notice a humming, which gives you a headache after about five minutes," said Hunter. The humming originates in the ballast of the lights and could be corrected by com- plete replacement of the lights (about $37,000) or changing the ballasts (about $20,000). Hunter said the former solution is preferable because of the possibility of ob- taining a grant from the Ministry of Energy for new lighting system. The two basic options for reducing the echoes are either a spray -on product which would adhere to the roof of the arena, or hanging baffles to deaden the sound. The advantage bf the spray -on solution is that it provides additional insulation. The disadvantage, said Hunter, is that installa- tion is messy and pieces can fall off afterward. Hunter said the committee studying the acoustics problem could not find the spray - on product in use in any arenas in the area, although they found it in use in swimming pools, industrial buildings and other structures. Two types of spray -ons were considered, • a styrofoam -like substance, or a cement and mineral fibre type. The latter type is Turn fo pate 2 No one applied to be the Tiger No one, it seems, wants to be the Tiger for a weekend. The Goderich 160th Anniversary - Tiger Dunlop Days Committee has had to abandon plans to hold a contest to find a resident to impersonate Goderich founder Tiger Dunlop during the up- coming celebration July 31 to Aug. 3. Tourism Promoter Robin Stuart said the contest idea was abandoned when no entries were received by the deadline. The winner was to have at- tended events during the' weekend dressed in an appropriate costume sup- plied by the committee. Peoples store Goderich's Court House Square shopp- ing area will soon have a slightly different look, as one major business moves out, another will change locations and a third may expand. People's department store, 141 Court House Square, will be officially closed as of July 18, although the last actual day of business was July 13. The building will remain the property of the Peoples organization, but will be leas- ed to the pharmacutical chain Big V, which will be moving it's operation there from it's current location at 108 Court House Square. While closing its downtown operation, the Peoples chain may not be saying good- bye to Goderich altogether, said Peoples Regional Manager Cliff King. "The store itself isn't big enough for us," said King. "There's a strong possibility you could see us back here with a much larger store in a more appropriate part of town," he added. Meanwhile, Shanahan's Foodland, 104 The Square, is in the final stages of arrang- ing to purchase the adjacent building presently occupied by Big V. Foodland owner Jim Shanahan said he has made a tenative offer to purchase, and plans to knock out the separating wall to, expand his grocery operation. However, it must first be determined if the structure is sound enough for the removal of the wall. "Right now, I can't see any problems with it," said Shanahan. Lights finally onat Suncoast The traffic lights installed last,week at the intersection of Suncoast Drive and Bayfield Road were turned on Tuesday, July 14 at 2 p.m. The lights were scheduled to go into operation last weekend, but Public Works Commissioner' Ken Hunter said "the job just took longer than they ( the contractor) thought it would". The delay -was probably for the best, said Hunter, as local motorists will now have 'a few days to get used to the lights before heavy weekend traffic begins. Motorists are advised to use extra cau- tion in the area, until drivers become ac- customed to the new lights. morn INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Beach blow out Saturday was CKNX FM 102 Beach Blow Out at St. Christopher's Beach in Goderich. The weather was perfect for the beach contests, which included best tan, best burn, wildest shorts, a volleyball tournament and free windsurf- ing lessons. For pictures of the day's ac- tivities, see the front page of the Com- munity section. Coach selected London resident Kent Phibbs has been selected as the new head coach for the Goderich Junior C Sailors hockey team. Phibbs is looking forward to combining discipline and teaching in an effort to turn the Sailors around in the scoreboards. For story, see the Sports section.