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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-10-03, Page 1Qf• '. Ybf grit • TREATY LINE is the name of this 1933 painting by ar- tist George Agnew Reid, formerly of East Wawanosh Township. Three Reid paintings, which were borrowed several years ago from the F. E. Madill Secondary School by the Ontario government, recently have been retrieved and are back at the local hi 'h school. Assis- tant Librarian Beth Payne admires the painting in the school library. Rei paintings r school toWingharn high who went on to become a noted architect and designer of public buildings. Mr. Elliott was born just outside Wingham during the latter half of the 19th cen- tury, Mr. Eaton reported, and graduated from a four- year course at the Prentiss School of Architecture in New York City. After completing the third year of the course, he returned home to Wingham and designed the Shaw Block, built in 1896, which still stands at 197-201, Josephine Street. After his graduation he left this area for Montana, later • Three paintings by noted Wingham artist George A. Reid have been returned to the F. E. Madill Secondary School following a sojourn in the halls of Queen's Park. The paintings, which had apparently been donated to the school (the Wingham Public School also has three) , were borrowed by the' province a number of years ago for cleaning and cataloguing. However, while the public school got its paintings back, the ones at the high school were never returned. When this was discovered, school officials with the aid of local history buff Ernest Eaton embarked on a campaign to regain posses- sion of the paintings and earlier this year they were loan from the province. Mr. Eaton, who reported on the return of the paint- ings, also discovered another point of interest connected with them. One of the paint- ings bears a plaque indicat- ing it was painted for the mantlepiece of William A. Elliott of Brandon. It seems that Mr. Ellit t -t successful. The paintings are was also a local boy, a now hanging on permanent contemporary of Mr. Reid, Prospect of new dam fades as replacement costs mount With the estimated cost of replacing the collapsed Lower Town dam now pegged at well o1)er half a million dollars and no source of funding in sight, it appears less and less likely the old millpond will ever be restored. Instead, the committee studying the dam problem has been instructed to turn its attention to developing alternative plans for use of the millpond area. Ron Beecroft, chairman of the ad hoc committee, at- tended Monday night's council meeting to report on progress to date. He told council the committee had been shocked at receiving .a preliminary estimate from engineer Ken Dunn that replacement of the dam with a long weir would cost ap- proximately $620,000. The committee is in the process of trying to find ,funds but that is very hard right now, he said, since neither the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority nor the Ministry of Natural Resources wants to get in- volved. He said he has been in touch with a second engineer who has offered to look at the situation and make a report at no cost to. the town," but appeared to hold out little hope that it would solve the problem. He added that during the past few weeks he has received a number of calls from residents, reporting that most feel something should be done with the pond but do not favor spending that kind of money. Consequently the com- mittee has started to look at possible alternatives, . he said, such as channelling the river and landscaping the area which had been the bottom of the millpond. In response to questions from councillors, he said the committee has not looked at the possibility in much detail, but Bryan Howard, general Manager of the MVCA, has offered to ac- company committee members to Simcoe to see what that town did after losing a similar dam. The committee realizes it was formed with the ob- jective of replacing the dam, he said, "but we also realize we can't go ahead with replacement at any cost." Councillors agreed, passing a motion instructing thecommittee to proceed With the dedelopment of alternate plans and offering to cover any "reasonable" costs incurred along the way. Council also asked about the urgency off removing what remains of the old dam, concluding there is no great urgency. Councillor Bruce Machan pointed out there is' a bigger opening now than there was with the dam there. Councillor James A. Currie asked whether the committee had discussed the possibility of installing a number of small weirs to form a series of ponds as Guelph has done with the Speed River. In that way the cost could be spread over a number of years, he noted. He was told that option had not been looked at specifically. To a about the possible cost of doing away with dams entirely and simply landscaping the millpond area, Mr. Machan said the committee had received a ballpark estimate of about $60,000 plus the cost of removing the old dam. Members of two families are injured in auto accident Members of two families received injuries, some serious, in a two -vehicle accident near Holyrood last Saturday evening. Marlene Wolfe, 35, of RR 3, Holyrood, and two sons, Nathaniel, 10, and Sean, 7, as well as Merlene Bergman, 35, and a daughter Roxene, 9, all were taken to the Wingham and District Hospital following the ac- cident. Roxene was transferred to Victoria hospital, London, for treatment of head in- juries •while the others were released following treat- ment. Provincial police at Kincardine reported the accident occurred when a pickup truck driven by Murray MacKinnon, 30; of RR 5, Lucknow, collided with the Wolfe vehicle along Concession 6 Kinloss Town- ship. Mr. MacKinnon was eastbound 6n the concession road and had just crested a hill when he saiv the Wolfe vehicle backing out of a private lane onto the roadway. He applied the brakes and, swerved, but collided with the rear of the other vehicle before con- tinuing into the north ditch and rolling over. - Mr. MacKinnon was not injured in the accident, however occupants of the Wolfe vehicle, none of whom were wearing seat belts, all received injuries, police reported. The injuries to Roxene Bergman and Nathaniel Wolfe were classed as major, while the other occupants escaped with minor injuries. In another accident near Whitechurch Monday af- ternoon, a Wingham woman and a Lucknow-area couple were injured. police reported that Jeanette Vanderveen, 27, of Wingham was eastbound on Highway 86 when a tire blew out on her 1983 VW, causing the car to cross the highway where it collided with a west- bound car driven by Joseph Alvin Hackett, 48, of RR 7, Lucknow. • Both drivers were injured, as well as a passenger in the Hackett vehicle, Barbara Hackett, also of RR 7, Lucknow. All were taken to the Wingham hospital for treatment. Damage to the vehicles was estimated at $5,000 to the Vanderveen car and $2,000 to the Hackett car, a 1977 Buick. Injuries also were reported in a two -car ac- cident at Blyth early Saturday morning. Provincial police at Wingham reported •that James F. Oyster, 20, of High River, Alberta, was , at- tempting to make a U-turn on Highway 4 when his car was struck broadside by another car, driven by Scott B. MacDonald, 19, of RR 1, Blyth, which was northbound along the highway. Both drivers were taken to the Wingham hospitalwith minor injuries. Damage to the vehicles, a 1981 Camaro and a 1978 Dodge, was estimated at $2,000 to each. FIRST SECTION Wingham, Ontario, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1984 Single Copy 50c Town council takes action 'to put brakes on spending Concerned at the prospect of ending this year with a substantial deficit, Wingham Town Council has moved to put the brakes on additional spending. At its meeting Monday night, council decided against spending an esti- mated $16,500 on a sewer project requested by two residents and also agreed to postpone a planned $60,000 purchase of a new truck for snowplowing. In addition, it took steps to control the reallocation of funds within committee budgets and the addition of items to budgets after they have been struck. On the positive side, council heard that by doing some juggling and putting off some proposed ex- penditures until next year, the property committee should come in under budget despite spending $10,000 more than planned on the replacement of the Town Hall windows. Finance Chairman Jack Kopas told council he has not found evidence of "wild, uncontrolled spending" by any of the committees, moved to Brandon and finally ended up on the West Coast. In a biographical directory of Canadian architects to be published this fall, a couple of pages are devoted to the work of Mr. Elliott, who designed a large number of public buildings both in Canada and the U. S., Mr. Eaton reported. He added that Mr. Elliott was an uncle of Mrs. Colin Fingland of Wingham. It is not clear what the connection was between Mr. Elliott and Mr. Reid, Mr. Eaton said. However it is interesting to note that during his youth Mr. Reid was apprenticed to' an ar- chitect before discovering that he did not like ar- chitecture and turning in- stead to painting. Ad deadline is advanced The deadline for classified advertising to appear in next week's issue of The Advance - Times is Friday afternoon, Oct. 5, of this week. `,}s The advanced deadline is required because of the Thanksgiving holiday on Monday, Oct. 8. explaining the major cause tion was withdrawn. Instead, of the projected deficit is council said, it will proceed that costs on some projects, with a less costly alternative such as the. Leopold Street of digging up and replacing reconstruction and Shuter the line through which sew - Street railway crossing, age from those homes is ended up being higher than pumped up to the Boland anticipated. Street sewer.. ' Several Councillors point - Council also learned that ed out that the problem was cost-cutting is not always popular when it emerged from an in -camera session to tell Diane Grummett and Nancy Thompson that a sewerage project they had been counting on to relieve problems at their homes on Carling Terrace, north of Boland Street, would not happen this year. not created by the town but by the developer who built those homes without provid- ing proper sewage outlet and said the town could not af- ford to spend an additional $16,000 this year to correct it. The explanation clearly did not satisfy Ms. Grum- mett, who reported she has Ms. Grummett and Mrs. had to tail raw sewage out of her basement with a bucket Thompson had met with and wondered how much council and its public works longer she will have to wait ;committee several times to for 2olution. ask that something be done to relieve the problems that "Angry doesn't even come cause sewage to back up into close to it!" she responded, their basements and a after being told by one motion was on the agenda councillor that he could Monday night to proceed understand her being angry. with the $16,500 project. ' Reporting for the public However, following •an in- works committee, Reeve Joe camera session requested by Kerr; who had been absent Mr. Kopas to discuss financi- from the previous meeting at al aspects of the project, which council decided to buy which had not been included a new truck for snow - in this year's budget, the mo- plowing, said he thinks the andalism blamed for fire at post offic Wingham police are looking for leads on who set a fire which destroyed or damaged an estimated 300 pieces of mair at the Wingham Post Office on Sunday afternoon. Police said there is no doubt that the blaze, which did not spread beyond the mail drop but caused smoke damage to the rest of the building, was set deliberately. Evidence also was discovered of an un- successful attempt to set another fire in a second mail drop at the post office. Postmaster Gordon Sutcliffe reported the fire was discovered at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday when a person checking for mail noticed smoke coming from the mail chute and turned in the alarm. Firemen quickly extinguished the blaze, which was confined to an asbestos -lined mail drop closet, but not before considerable damage had been done to the mail it contained. Several letters were burned entirely, he said, while others have been damaged beyond recognition. Approximately 300 pieces of mail were involved, he estimated, adding that where possible the post office is attempting to notify the mailers. On many letters, however, it is impossible to make out either the return or forwarding Address, he said, so people should be alerted town can get along for afiother year with the old one. "The debt we're in now, I can't support it (the pur- chase)," he said, noting it would mean spending about $60,000. Although it was pointed out that money was in a reserve account for equipment purchase, he said the town could still use the interest it would draw by -saving it for another year. The town already owns seven trucks, he added, and he is not sure it really needs another. He also noted that other towns are starting to contract out their snow plowing and it might be more econimical to do that here. The Ministry of Transport- ation and Communications found in the last four years it had snow plowed using con- tractors' equipment for less than it hadbeen paying in wages to have its own men do it, he reported. In other financial business, council passed two motions at the meeting directing that all reallocations of funds within any cost centre must be cleared first with council, as well as any proposed addition to budgetary items. Concern had been ex- pressed over a decision by the parks board to purchase a •• Muck for $2,500 by deferring spending on a sprinkler system at the Cenotaph and repairs at the Howson Dam. Mr. Kerr asked whether the parks board really needed a truck and Mr. Kopas agreed that there should be some check on these budgetary diver- sions. to the possibility that letters they posted on the weekend could have been destroyed. The mail involved was :in the inside letter drop, which would havecontained local mail posted anytime after 1 p.m. on Saturday as well as out-of-town mail posted between noon and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Out-of-town mail poseted in the red box outside the post office had been picked up at noon -and would not be affected. He said the post office would attempt to allow credit for the replacement of letters which can be identified as having been lost in the fire. He also reported that when police were called to investigate, they discovered an attempt had also been made to set fire to mail in the outside letter drop. Mr. Sutcliffe said the local post office has not had many problems with vandalism of its mail drops. However three or four weeks ago someone tried to set fire to letters in one of the outdoor letter boxes and, in the wake of the weekend fire, "it causes a lot of. worry." Police said the incident remains under investigation and they are still looking for leads. Reid is named engineer of year Scott Reid, director of engineering at CKNX Broadcasting Ltd., was honored as "Engineer of the Year" at the annual con- ference of the Central Canada Broadcasting Engineers held last week in Toronto. The award, in the form of a metal sculpture based on a painting by Tom Thomson, recognized Mr. Reid's many years of service to the engineering fraternity in central Canada and more than 40 years as an engineer at CKNX. Last Friday, members of the radio and television engineering department and their wives attended a surprise luncheon for Mr. Reid and his wife Audrey at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club. DONATION TO HOSPITAL.—The Lucknow Lions Club has donated $10,000 towards the new emergency and outpatient departments at the Wingham and District Hospital in memory of Dr. J. C. McKim of Lucknow, a former Lions member. The money will be used to pur- chase and install the overhead adjustable lights in the trauma unit of the new ambulatory care wing. A plaque to record the donation will be displayed prominently out- side the door of the trauma unit. Shown making the presentation are Tom Helm, Lucknow Lions president, Rod McDonagh, Lucknow chairman for the hospital fund-raising campaign, and Carroll McKim, the doctor's widow. '(Photo by Sharon Dietz) Mary Dawson appointed as Kingston warden Mary Dawson, ° the former Mary Fisher of Whitechurch, recently was appointed the first woman warden of a maximum -security prison in Canada. She took command last week at the Kingston penitentiary, which houses some of Canada's most violent criminals. "I'll be as tough as the situation demands," Mrs. Dawson was reported to have said after a change -of - command ceremony. She joined the prison service in 1967 as secretary to the warden at the minimum -security Work - worth prison located southeast of Peterborough. In more recent years she was warden of the medium - security prison at Joyceville near Kingston.