Loading...
The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-11-21, Page 1'ub: c Library 4,x $• Wjlrl tam, (hat. leo. 4 CURLING ENTHUSIASTS—European students living in the area as part of the American-Scandinavian,Ex- change Program (ASSE) and their host families 'gathered at the Mount Forest Curling Club on Satur- day for a day of curling and a potluck supper. For most of the young people it was the first time they had tried the sport. In the front are Tina Asp of Sweden who is staying with the Larsen family of Goderich, Eva Carlsson of Sweden who is staying with the Alex Wilson family of Mount Forest and Helena Erickson who is staying with the Tokarsky family of Mount Forest. In the back are Kierstin Nyberg of Sweden who is staying with the Dickson family of Mildmay. Sirpa Tunkelo of Finland who is staying with the Siertsma family of Bayfield, Tormod Haug of Norway who is staying with the Tweddle family of Wingham; Jorn Mazur of West Germany who is staying with Dwight and Debbie Mann of RR 1, Mount Forest, Hille Janhonen of Finland who is staying with the Hummel family of Goderich and Greta Blorn'Olafsdottir of Ice• land who is staying with the Harry Thomas family of Holstein. One student from Belmore is living in Swit- zerland this year as part of the ASSE program. Friends of library organize. to press for larger quarters A Friends of the Library ' grow has been organized in Wingham and one of the first items on its agenda will be to press for expansion of the town library. Stella Dabrowski, who was selected to chair the new group, said she expects library expansion, will be among its top priorities; once it has a chance to get better organized. Everybody knows that for the past 30 or 35 years Wingham has needed a. new library," she said, noting the current quarters are the smallest of any of the town libraries in the county, although its, usage rates are near the top. However she noted the group will be looking for more people to step forward and get involved. "A handful of people can't do this by themselves," she said. They will need ideas, support and feedback from others in the community, and they are hoping 'to get some of it at their next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. at the Wingham Town Hall. Mrs. Dabrowski said she hopes everyope who ,.is. in- terested in the library will come out to that meeting. About 30 people attended the inaugural meeting at which the Friends of the Library group was formed last Wednesday. After listening to William Par- tridge, county chief librarian, explain the significance of such a group. those present agreed to form a group and selected an exe- cutive, with Mrs. Dabrowski as chairman, Peter Dubelaar as secretary treasurer, Sheila Clarke as program coordinator and Ron Spurr as publicity coordinator. Councillor James A. Currie reported that town council had made a commit- ment to set aside $20,000 to fund library expansion and Robert Ritter, representing the county library board, said the board bad agreed to rent between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet for a new library. Currently the library has only 800 square feet. . In a later interview, Mr. Ritter explained that while the library board has agreed to. pay rent: on weep 3,000 '.- square feet, it is still up to the Lown to find and make " available the space for a larger library. The board has expressed concern for a number of. years about the cramped facilities of , the' present library, he said, and .at a meeting last week it passed a motion indicating its willing- ness.t.o rent larger quarters. On the basis of its cir- culation figures, the library currently ranks third behind Goderich and Exeter, he noted, and on that basis the board thought the library should have about 2,500 square feet — more than triple its present space. and about on a par with the other town branches.` He said the board has made no suggestion about where the library should be located, although some board members did tour the old fire hall building a couple of months ago, on the in- vitation of the town council, and agreed it does have potential as a library. "I think the initiative must ,-' �c3�t hflit FIRST SECTION Wingham, Ontario, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 1984 Single Copy 50c come from town council," Mre4itter,said.'"There must be a willingness on their parf to provide a better facility for the community. "I don't think they'll respond unless they think the people of the' community want a better facility," he added, concluding that. the Friends of the Library group is "a first step in that direction." Committee to recommend replacement of lower dam A. citizens' committee studying- the Lower Town date plans to recommend repjacement of the existing stt'tzeture with an earth=filled weir, the chairman of the group said last week. . Pollowing a tweeting of the ad ' hoc committee last Thursday, Ron Beecroft said the group has agreed to recommend to the Wingham ' Town Council at its December 3 meeting that the darn be replaced as outlined in the plan recently received gfrorn engineer Allan Stinson of Del Can. that plan, which was submitted tb council at its November ni'eeting, calls for the removal of the existing dein, a portion ' of which collapsed during a flood. earlier this year, and its replacement with' a weir of clay and stone. The estimated cost of such a project, which is still in the very, preliminary planning stages, is about $300,000, Mr. Beecroftsaid, but it could vary depending on when and by whgm the work was done and whether local materials can .be used. He said the committee planned to check with some local ' contractors and. "maybe it could even be cut lower than that." The committee would like to eeee the project go ahead as h;+„ i possible, he added, $it t�if�not, inci'rtde'r table`'as part of its recbrn- mendations. 'A lot will de- pend on what outside funding sources 'are available, as well as on the town's own budget, he . noted. He said the committee will , spend the next week trying to get some' answers on possible sources of funding as well as talking with local Right now it is looking at groups to see whether they the Employment Canada might be interested in program under which helping, before meeting Brussels got more than again Nov. 28 to draft its $300,000 to repair its dam. final report. That program, which is due Donations invited for African relief STANLEY AWARDS—Long-service awards were presented to several employees of Stanley Door Systems in Wingham last week. Those receiving and presenting awards were: back, Bruce McLean and Glen Sinnamon, retiring employees, and Doug Cer- son of Stanley; front, Ed Quinn, 10 years, Doris Laidlaw, 25 years, and Albert Mason, 10 years. The Canadian Red Cross, through a local radio station, is collecting money to be used to aid famine victims in Ethiopia. The . collection, which got its start through an open -line radio program Monday morning, has already raised pledges of almost $5,000 for. African relief. Bill Thomson of Wingham, host of the Open Line program on FM 102, said Monday evening that the fund-raising was a spur-of- the-moment idea triggered by the presence on the show of Albert Batten of Fergus, a long-time volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, During conversation with Mr. Batten about relief ef- forts, he decided to ' invite listeners to call in with pledges of support, he said, and the phones started ringing almost immediately.. In rural areas such as this, many people would like to help out in tragedies such as the African famine, he said, but they don't know where to channel their donations. Mr. Thomson said the collection willbe ongoing, with periodic an- nouncements over the radio and television stations. Anyone wishing to contribute is invited to send a donation to Canadian Red Cross, African Aid, care of CKNX, Carling Terrace, Wingham. Cheques should be made out to Canadian Red Cross African Aid. Hydro back to route_ study stage Ontario Hydro will be visiting Huron County with information centres in the next week and to hear from the public on its transmis- sion line route study from the Bruce Nuclear Power Development to London. Ontario Hydro's commun- ity relations officer Dave Abbott, said Hydro planners will be at information cen- tres from Nov. 26 to 29. Mr. Abbott said Ontario Hydro doesn't have a system plan approved after the modified M3 version was thrown out of court. Ontario Hydro has now gone back to the route study stage. The centres in Huron will follow a meeting on Nov, 24 between interest groups and Hydro. Mr. Abbott said Hydro will meet four times with interest groups. Besides that, Hydro planners will meet six times with county, conservation areas and other provincial ministry plan- ners. The information centres will be held in the following locations: Monday, Nov. 26, in Wingham at the Canadian Legion Hall; Tuesday, Nov. 27, at the Huron Community Centre in Ripley; Wednes- day, Nov. 28, at the Com- munity Centre in Clinton and Thursday, Nov. 29 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter. The centres will be open from 2 p.m. to 5 p,.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 99th BIRTHDAY—Hannah Wilson celebrated her 99th birthday last week by visiting with her nephew James Wilson of William 'Street, Wingham. Now a resident of Huronview, Miss Wilson lived for many years at 291 Shuter Street, Wingham, and attended high school here. Surprisingly youthful for her years, she said her motto is to always try to be cheerful and help others. to expire this year, provides funding to hire workers whose unemployment in- surance benefits are running out. A portion of Mr. Stinson's report also recommended repairs to the upper dam as a priority project, however Mr. Beecroft said that' matter has been handed over to the town works committee while the committee focuses;, its efforts on finding a solution to the lower dam. In an earlier report to council, Mr. Beecroft ex- plained that the committee had abandoned research into a proposal to remove the dam and landscape the pond area since it was estimated such a project would cost about $200,000 and would be vulnerable to damage from floods. Former resident celebrates 99th A former Wingham resident returned to town last week to celebrate her 99th birthday. Hannah Wilson, . who turned 99 on Nov. 14, visited with family and friends at the home of her nephew, James Wilson, on William Street in Wingham, Now residing at Huron - view, Miss Wilson spent her early 'years at 291' Shuter Street, Wingham, and at- tended-tligh, school here, She went' on to graduate 'as a nurse and spent 37 years working at the Jones Clinic of Bay City, Michigan. Apparently in good health and looking surprisingly youthful for her years, Miss Wilson said her motto is to try always to be cheerful and to help others. She also has a brother, Dr. Thomas Wilson, who is retired and living in Dunedin; Florida. Brussels breeder winner �f pacing award prestigi�us Brussels breeder and which three will be offered at trainer Hugh Pearson was the Flamborough sale Dec. recently named the winner 1 of the Ontario Standardbred Currently his son Bob is Improvement Association's home working with him. award for the befit three- Previously Bob had been year-old pacing colt of 1984. working with the Toronto Mr. Pearson, who has been in the business of breeding Club supports and raising racing stock forpp a couple of decades, won the award for Mystery Skipper; Ron Zimmer and Dan the magnificent colt now Webster of the Wingham and owned and trained by Doug District Optimist Club Arthur. donated their time and the By Senior Skipper out of an use of a bus recently to help Adios Vic mare called Laura about 100 students from the Lobell, Mystery Skipper has F. E. Madill Secondary raced all over Canada this School plant daffodil bulbs in year, even beating On the Road Again, a great horse which has w.on over $1.7 million. He also seta record of i :55 flat at the Windsor Raceway during the' Ontario Sires Stakes races this season. Mr. Pearson said he has lost count of all the horses he bred and raised which are out racing on tracks across North America. In 1982 he ranked 114th on the list of top breeders in North America, one of only a handful of Canadian stables on the list. That year he also had the second-best horse of all ages in Canada, Red Dodger, which won 17 races in a free- for-all at Toronto. The first horse he ever raced was Bobby Rick, he recalled, who made over $75,000, and over the years he has raced at 23 different t tracks in Canada and the U. S. Troubled with bad eyes, he never did much driving himself,' though, and now has retired from driving altogether. He still has about 37 horses around, though just, one, Shadows Goodnight, is currently out racing. He has six yearlings in training, of Jockey Club at Greenwood and Mohawk for the Steve Condren Stables. Mr. Con- dren is the top trainer and driver in Canada at the present time. , daffodil, project several areas around the town. The club had agreed to purchase the daffodil bulbs for the school project as part of a community beautifica- tion effort. DONATION TO HOSPITAL --Stewart J. Coupland, manager of the Toronto -Dominion Bank in Wingham presents a cheque for $2,000 to Tom Miller, fund- raising chairman for the Wingham and District Hospital. The bank has pledged an equal amount next year for a total of $4,000 toward the new wing. 4,