The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-07-21, Page 1yr.
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agk after an incident in Goderich harbor
g the Algosea, a 692 -foot freighter owned
oma Central Railway, a Transport
spokesman told local officials Tuesday
ompleted his investigation and would be
ng ',.:a report an,,._maing.__xecom-•
ons if needed. ,
in Jeff McCartney, of the Canadian
uard Ship. Safety Branch of Transport
said he does not expect any changds to
connection with the mishap.
et harbor master in England, Captain
ey said such accidents as the one just
g in Goderich harbor, happen from time
uesday evening at 9 p.m., the Algosea
was arriving in Goderich harbor light to pick ftp
a load of salt. The freighter is believed.to have
experienced problems with the' forward
thrusters and was forced to use its • ;reverse
engines to stop the ship in the harbor basin, This
action caused what.svas,,repotted to be four,foot_.--
w8`ves-in--the-harbor basin, _resulting in ,some
panic among the pleasure. ,craft owriers and
Operators at Snug; Harbor: -
At last Wednesday's council meeting, Mayor
Deb Shewfelt and council ..were confronted with
letters, from angry pleasure boaters and heard
anxious reports from its harbor chairman, Don
Wheeler and the harbor co-chairman Elsa
Haydon.
Wheeler promised an "immediate inquiry"
uncil votes 6-3
ainst special stu
rport committee recommendation to
Transport Canada to undertake an
ing.-study of Sky Harbor as soon as
was approved by town council last
ay, but another motion, moved by
or Elsa Haydon and ^ seconded by
✓ Don Wheeler of the Airport Com -
for the town to undertake a com-
ve study of the complete airport com-
turned down in a recorded vote.
cond motion calledfor an assessment of
ncial, management, social and en-
tal aspects as they,relate to a possible
n of the facilities and theoperationsat
bor. It included a provision that the
e conducted by an independent
nal consulting firm, subject to terms of
e to be prepared by council with
e from the Huron County Planning
ent and the airport committee. It
tipulated that the study be done upon
on of, the engineering stddy requested of
t Canada,
otion saw only Councillors Haydotr and
and Mayor Deb ,Shewfelt voting in
1 other council members opposed the
llor /Dave Gower said he felt the
t group should beasked to assimilate
ation it already has at its disposal; and
presentation to the airport committee
cil. Gower said he saw no need for an
nt study.
Bil lifford said he felt it was
re- at thi time" to consider such a
nsive,study,of the airpolrt. He:,agreed
cillor Don Wheeler who hadpointed out
the engineering study is completed,
s no , need to -start any other study
the no
of the engineering study,
y well preclude any plans for expansion
rbor.-
Reeve Eileen Palmer concurred with
fford. She said it was necessary to have
eering study completed first and that
h.ould decide after receiving the
report whether further studies were
ngineering study is adequate at the,
asserted Councillor Stan Profit.
ouncillor Haydon who argued for the
nsive study of the. complete airport
y an independent professional con -
m. She said the business,at the airport
such magnitude" that council really
d someone to provide all thea facts,
d alternatives about the operation and
at Sky Harbour.
or Haydon referred briefly to the fact
leinfeldt Group and Dominion Road
Company Ltd. are closely associated,
•
l.. y
by Transport. Canada int,o`the incident which 'e
felt could. have developedh
'into a major harbor
tragedy
Haydon said she waiconcerned not only with
the damage to pleasure craft and the anguish for
pl eas ur e..botaLers..-hat-rAi..mett-.. sla e_. f eared -the•
reputation of Goderich.•:s Snug Harbor would
suffer as a„result of the Mishap.
"Some boaters have loft and have said.they
are not coming- back," Haydon told. council.
"They have°'pror`nised -to tell all their boating
friends about Goderich harbor, tori."
Mayor Deb Shewfelt= reminded council that
Goderich harbor is used by both pleasure craft
andcomtnercial ships. He said there are in-
creased opportunities for accidents and dif-
r!.
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aR
ficulties for both the pleasure boaters and the
lake freighter skippers when the two types of
vessels share one harbor facility. •
"But we shouldn't loose sight of the fact that
this is basically an industrial harbor," the mayor
.. t ldcouncil:
• This week, Captain McCartneyq of ,Transport
Canada, interviewed Harbor 'Master Allan
McDonald, Al Scharlach, George Robertson of
the Sailing' Club, Police Chief, Pat King and
Councillor 'Bob Allen, an eye -witness to the in-
cident.
Captain McCartney said he would prepare a
written" report for his superior, Captain George
Lesk who is the Director of the Coast Guard Ship
Safety Branch of Transport Canada. Captain
McCartney said if recommendations are inr;
dicated after the report is compiled, hewill pass
those along to Captain Lesk, From•that point on, r
the mbtter is in the hands of Captain Lesk,
...•• ... a «., •
-t�3f?'fiii?RATORST''!#ii:E " •
to ...r-
John • Henry Wood, reserve chief engineer since
March 1976, was on- the Algosea-last Tuesday
evening. He reported that a power failure on a
caterpillar generator automatically caused the
winches and the bow thrusters on the Algosea to
shut down. Wood said that left him with only the
power.of the windlass to control the boat:'
Captain Eric Carlsen, master, of the Algosea
i„ 1 I4 Ow. 3
and said she wouldnot be able to.. "intelligently
voteon this question until an independent study
is done". At this point, Councillor. Haydon was
Urged to address herself to the motion on the
floor, and not to resort to "inuendoes."
Haydon claimed she was "not well enough
acquainted with the whole picture" at the airport
and added that she doubted if'anyone.ppg� council
or the airport committee `really coultibe fully
aware of all the implications of the future plans
for the airport until an independent study was
done.
Haydon also stated that the expansion at the
airport would be of the greatest benefit to DR,
MCO, and said that while DRMCO through its
own. studies has determined what is necessary at
Sky Harbor, it is time the town had a studydone
from its own viewpoint to determine just how
expansion at the airport would benefit the town.
Haydon said that already the town is involved .
in a 99 year lease and pointed out there is talk of
law suits, rezoning and expropriation,,. She
warned it was time the town had an independent
study completed concerning all aspects of the
airport expansion, to determine the best route to
_ take.
"We're looking at anairport for the future and
that's where planning begins," said Councillor
Gower. He went on to say there was"no room for
criticism of the airport committee" and added.
that "without a runway we'll not develop to any
ectent,,
Mayor Deb Shewfelt said it wouldbe two or
three years before there was any major
decisions regarding the expansionatthe airport.
�`The>ce, wil ,,,,I2e.plenty .of, meetings yet," said
the mayor..
A -third motion to undertake a review, of the
Goderich airport complex to ascertain whether
the airport should continue as a municipal
project, be leased or be sold was withdrawn.
rNl iRyD \ ', I ILICY2l, 19; ;
SINGLE COPY 25c
ask to disband P
Goderich town council may be asked to
disband the Goderich Public Utilities Com-
mission and .take over operation of the utility •
itself.. Jim Searls said Monday he felt he leadno
recourse but to ask council CO disband the
commission on the grounds -ghat th,,.e public is not
getting out of this commission'what it is paying
for.
Searls has been after the commission for the
past two months trying to get them to establish a
policy that no Goderich PUC delegate attend any
convention outside the province of Ontario unless
absolutely necessary. He also would like to have
the practice of the PUC paying for com-
missioners' wives - to • attend . the'. conventions
stopped and would like to have any delegates
sent to a convention limited to the commission
department heads;
He,hegan his; protest.:.w1 Abe PUC returned
from a convention in Anaheim, California. The
commission paid about $6,000 to send five
commissioners. the office manager and their
wives to the American Water Works Association
:.convention. Searls felt that the expense was
entirely unnecessary and, met with the com-
mission in June presenting them with a proposed
petition outlining the policy he felt was needed.
The petition contained three main points and
Searls „said if the commission didn't want to
agree to the points he would have no choice but to
circulate the petition for public support, The
points were that no delegate be sent out of the
province to a convention, that the number of
delegates be considerably reduced and that one
of the delegates be either hydro foreman Evert-
Middel or Water foreman Ernie Porter whose
work and qualifications enable them to par-
ticipate in the convention at a technical level and
report back to•the commission.
The commission reserved comment .on the
petition and tabled the subject. Searls, returned
to the July meeting and said he got no
satisfactory response. He said the commission
gave him a statement signed by . Chairman
Harry Worsell thanking him for his interest in
commission activities and advising him that he
would be notified .personally of any conferences
or conventions the commission planned to at-
tend.
ttend. -
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"That's no satisfactory answer to me," he
said. "They can phone phone me,. say they're gping
to ' a convention and it's good bye Charlie
Brown.'`
Searls said he had changed his plans and now
intends to go to town council to ask that they
disband the commission and take over the
-operation of the utility. He said he understood
there was legislation permitting council to do
. i , 11.1e, ' •
These kids had lots of fun at a roll-a-thon held at
he. Goderich Memorial Arena on Saturday from.
„A.m. to 9 p:m. There were exactly .18 skaters in
;bite roil-a-thon_ Their average ages were 13 and
lit. Thetwelve hours of skating was completed by
9 skaters and it is expected that $1,000 will be
raised to help pay the interest incurred by a bank
oan taken out to help repair the arena roof last
wvinter.,t'rom lett lo right are Lisa Kellough, Kim
'htrlow, Alison Graham, Melody Grhase and
,Pani Meriam. Billy Blaney pushes from behind.
(Staff photo)
fer to support elderl
MY JOANNE WALTERS '
A new program to provide home support
services for elderly and handicapped adults is
now underway -in the province of Ontario. Such
services include heavy or seasonal cleaning,
gardening, painting, repairs or alterations to the
home, transportation for,shopping and medical
reasons and other related home cafe services.
The program is not intended to replace any
existing programs such as Hotemaking, Home
Care Services or the Nurses Services Act.
The new program has a two fold objective. It•
will provide employment for the unemployed
while at' die same time enabling the recipient of
the services to remain in hisown home.
John Macttinnon,,, administrator of social
ser4ices in Huron County, says it is a general
,•pbilosophy that keeping the handicapped and
elderly in their own homes iT at -all possible is
cheaper and better thariinstitution lizing them.
MacKinnon says there is a need for the Home
,.n
Support services program in Huron County and
that it is now just a matter of getting enough
people to apply for it. He feels sure that the
program will be well underway in the county by
September.
Each -municipality has a choice of entering the
new program. The province, will pay $20 per day
per. employee and the municipality will he
responsible for any wages and employee benefits
in excess of the $20 per day and any tran-
sportation costs. Only labor is covered i' in the
costs. Any materials. needed are not supplied.
The costs associated with recruitment, training
and general supervision are the responsibility of
the municipalities.
The Provincial Government is allowing Huron
County to hire three persons on a temporary
basis to look after the new services until the end
of the provincial fiscal year (March 31, 1978).
Thebe people will be located throughout the
County, possibly in Winghain. Exeter, Clinton or
Goderich. The number of people hired• may be,.
increased later depending on 'the number of
municipalities willing to participate in the new,
program . ..731
. The program is aimed .L ,,i ° .:::,:o fui: ..
employment and therefore the Provincial
Government has asked the municipalities in-
volved not to hire part-time or iummer students
to fill the positions. It is suggested that young,
unemployed persons willing to make a longer
commitment to the program • be hired.
MacKinnon ` says some referrals for these
positions have already come through his office
from Canada•Manpower.
In order to'•determine appropriate clients for
the program; information has been sent out to
other agencies likely to"be invol, ed. Lpcal homes
for the aged .and• other instil tions have been
contacted. Those people await'ng admission to
such institutions could receive program services
that would be useful during this time 'and
1 l.rn 111 pjige3- e.
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